Masks and Souls: Lelouch of the Afterlife
by Jevran
Summary: A Code Geass and Bleach crossover focusing on Lelouch as the protagonist. Post R2 and post winter war. Rating may change.
1. Prologue: The Unexpected Afterlife

_Disclaimer: I own neither Code Geass or Bleach_

_Hello everyone, this is an idea I have been toying with for a while, a cossover of bleach and code geass._

_The main focus of the story will be Lelouch vi Britannia, going with the theory that he died at the end of R2. The timeline I will be following is the britannian calender starting at 2018 a.t.b and moving on from there. I'm putting the brittanian invasion of japan a few years after the events of winter war and aging the bleach characters to fit into the time line of the fic._

_It begins on that fateful day when the Deamon King Lelouch vi Britannia is killed by Zero._

_So, onward to the story._

* * *

><p><span>Prologue: The Unexpected Afterlife<span>

The feeling, the hands..._Nunnally..._holding his could be barely felt, the tearing pain in his chest...that was becoming less and less as well, his vision was starting to blur...he was seeing the distorted vision of a shocked Nunnally and at the same time he was seeing the past,

The thought elevator, the coup at Pendragon,the planning for the requiem...

"Oniisama! I love you!"

He smiled.

"Destroy….. worlds….." he whispered, "create….. worlds…"

Mother dead, Charles on his throne, the war, Shinjiku, the black kinghts...Zero...Ashford...his friends...and Kururugi shrine...himself Suzaku and Nunally so long ago...together and happy.

He was still smiling when he died.

* * *

><p>For an infinite moment, he floated in a void, no thoughts no emotions, just existance, and peace...he didnt know who he was or what he was, he just knew he simply exsited...and he was at peace...just for a moment.<p>

Then suddenly feeling came crashing back, there was a sensation of falling, a disorienting lurch and he found himself back in the world he just left.

* * *

><p>Zero! Zero! Zero! Zero!<p>

The roar of the crowd chanting the name of the dark knight of justice was the first to reach his ears as he became aware of his surroundings, and found himself standing at the foot of the platform he had been traveling on. At first he was not sure what had happened. How was it that he was standing at the bottom of the platform? He had planned to stay on the throne until Suzaku as Zero arrived, so as to give the crowd...and the news cameras a full view of his demise. When had he come down, and why the chanting. He was expecting the chants, yes, but not until he was good and dead...The confused emperor was standing there, when he became aware of the sound of sobbing by his feet.

He looked down.

And stumbled back in shock. There was his little sister...sobbing hysterically...holding himself!

He looked down at himself, and back at the him that Nunally held, it all came back in one shocked instance, and it took even less time for his mind to reach the inevitable conclusion.

He was dead, dead! And he was looking at his corpse!. Even to a man who has seen as much as he has, this was too much. And he stumbled away clutching at his head. Past the float, past the royal guards standing in mute shock. Non of whom seemed to notice him or pay him the slightest attention. It took a long time until he regained a modicum of sanity and began to think. He was not expecting this...he had never been a religious man, and even after finding out about geass at most he had expected after death was to be assimilated to the collective consciousness not...this.

He looked down at himself again. He still had a body, and he was wearing the same cloths he died in, only they were no longer riped and blood spattered. He reached a ginger hand to his chest, the wound that killed him was no longer there, and in its place was a square metal plate and fixed to the middle of that plate was a long metal chain.

"That's your soul chain."

"A soul chain? And what is that exactly?" he asked, a moment passed before the words registered, and he realized what had happened, and spun around in shock.

* * *

><p>Lelouch vi Britannia had an extraordinary mind. It more than his geass or any other weapon helped him conquer the world and finally end the cycle of hate that griped it. But even with a mind of such caliber, he was stunned and helpless at this moment. Having expected to die and be assimilated to the collective world of c, he now found himself in a position he had not planned for at all, a ghost looking down at his own corpse. He had barely managed to recover when he was shocked a second time, finding a strange attachment to his chest and being told its a...soul chain.<p>

Lelouch stared at the man before him, he was a tall muscular japanese man wearing a black kimono with the sleeves pushed up around his elbows and with his long black hair gathered at the top of his head and tied off with a simple cloth band creating a small ponytail that falls as far as the tops of his ears. At his hip was a katana with a handle wrapped in purple with a square guard in a black sheath. The man was watching him with an amused expression on his lined face.

"Who, Who are you? And what do you mean my soul chain?" lelouch manged to gasp out.

"The soul chain is what connects your soul to your living body, when you die, the chain is severed. This is what has happed to you" the man answered.

It took a long moment for lelouch to process all this, and longer to find his voice.

"So this means i'm now dead, that much I already deduced, does this mean that i'm a ghost now? And more to the point, who are you?"

The man let out a small laugh " You are taking all this very calmly aren't you emperor? No you are not a ghost, ghosts are earth bound spirits who have lingering attachments to this world and are unable to move into the afterlife. You are a plus, a newly dead human spirit"

Lelouch was looking over his shoulder at the royal float. His sister Cornelia and her ragtag band of rebels were right on schedule and had provided the spark needed to ignite the people to rebel against his royal guards. Jeremiah had called the retreat and the rebels were on their way to free the captives.

"There is nothing you can do to or for them now emperor, dead men don't have the power to interfere with the living. They can no longer see you or hear you" The voice bought his attention back to the mysterious man.

"If that is the case, how can you talk to me and see me? I assume you are a, a plus too? And you still haven't told me who you are" lelouch responded. Reverting back to the self assured captivating voice he used when he was zero.

"Heh, you are right, I haven't told you who i'am" the man replied with a smirk. His gaze went up at the sky for a moment and than came back to focus on lelouch.

"I'm Hamada Riku, a humble shinigami assigned to this sector, I was waiting for the execution to finish so i can send the poor bastards you were going to kill to soul society, but it looks like I will be sending you instead"

Lelouch's newly regained composure shattered in an instant.

"A , a, what the hell do you mean Shinigami! a death god, and what the hell is soul society!" lelouch stammered out, his voice a squeak.

"Its were souls go when they are dead, if they stay here the chain of fate crumbles away and they turn to hollow"

"Hollow?"

"Evil spirits that eat pluses like you" The man, the Shinigami, answered, still wearing a small half smirk. And lelouch couldn't be sure in his shaken mental state, but it seemed that the blasted man was enjoying his distress.

"I see" lelouch managed when he had finally calmed himself "so the afterlife is not all roses and sunshine, if you can be someones lunch."

"Heh its a life emperor, just like the life you just left, now lets send you on your way, I for one would say you would deserve to turn into a hollow and be hunted down, but its my duty to send pluses to the soul society, not pick and choose the worthy ones"

"That is very noble of you" lelouch replied with a small smirk of his own, so it seems that even in death his fabricated reputation would follow him, the deamon lelouch. " So how do you go to this soul society?"

"Easy" Hamada drew his katana in a smooth motion and bought the hilt to bear on lelouch's forehead " Safe journey emperor, and keep a low profile in soul society, I get the feeling you wouldn't be popular there"

The hilt made contact with his forehead, and lelouch faded slowly into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p><em>I was unsure if I should send Lelouch to Hueco Mundo or Soul Society at first, but decided on the whole, soul society is best. Mostly as I didn't feel like writing from a hollows view point and there is an excellent fic already about lelouch as a hollow. This fic is still in its infancy and the direction it will take is still up for debate, should lelouch join the shinigami? Or stay in rukongai? That is the next big thing I have to decide, and i'm still on the fence, any suggestions would be welcome.<em>

_Oh and Hamada is an oc i plan on using in the upcoming chapters._

_This is the first serious fanfic i'm writing so reader input is greatly appreciated._

_ps:This is an edited version of the frist two chapters rolled into one, as i felt it would be best if the death and sending off of lelouch was done in one leap._


	2. Chapter 1: Rukongai Adventures

_The next chapter is up, and I have decided were i want to send lelouch. Also I have set out the basic shape of the story for the next few chapters. I hope to update once a week if i get lucky._

_For the record, lelouch will not be becoming a shinigami. Not by the traditional go through the academy route at least. But taking XT3s advice i plan to give him a power upgrade down the line. Also i plan to introduce him to a few old friends in the course of the story. Enough of the code geass cast have died by the end of r2 to make life interesting for lulu. Its just a matter of bringing them together. _

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><p><span>Chapter 1: Rukongai Adventures<span>

Lelouch opened his eyes into a bright white light streaming from overhead. He let out a groan and stretched, only for his head to make contact with something hard and uncomfortable. With a sigh he sat up from the blanket he had lain on and surveyed his surroundings.

He had gone to sleep in a small hollow in the rukongai forest. Sunlight was streaming in through the canopy made by the surrounding trees. Lelouch pulled himself to his feet and began to roll up his sleeping blanket.

He had been in soul society for a little more then a month now, and had settled down fairly well.

His little hunch that he would not be able to discard his mask even in the afterlife had been right after all. He had barely arrived in soul society, disoriented and weak, when he found his way into one of the settlements of the district. He had barely been there a minute when someone recognized him as the demon emperor.

What had followed next was unpleasant.

A large mob had soon gathered, and he had been chased by them all the way out of the settlement into the surrounding forests. When he finally manged to avoid them, with a little misdirection, he was bruised and bleeding from both thrown stones and physical blows. That was when he learned the most important lesson in the afterlife, even a dead man can die, and even a dead man wishes to live.

After that he had taken to heart the advice of the shinigami who sent him here. Now he avoided people and kept a low profile. And he had also taken the precaution of keeping both his face and appearance concealed.

Lelouch pulled himself to his feet with a wince, and trying to ignore the kinks and bruises from sleeping on the hard ground, started packing his meager belongings together with the intention of making his way to the nearest settlement. Because as much as he would have wanted to, there were a few problems with becoming a complete recluse.

One was that he had to eat. He had learned that most people in soul society don't get hungry. But the ones who do feel hunger have spiritual power, and must eat when it is depleted. And he had spiritual power unfortunately, so he had to keep himself fed.

It was only one of the many strange things about his new life. Another very important one was that he no longer had his geass, something he was both thankful and regretful for. His geass has caused him so much grief in life, but he never realized how much he relied on it until he lost it. With his geass he stood apart from the others, with his geass he had the power to change his life and to change the world. Now he was once again part of the crowd, powerless to change his course. When he realized his geass was no more, during the first confrontation with the angry mob that welcomed him to his new life, he had cursed his powerlessness and felt sick to the core.

But since then he had come to terms with it and had learned to compensate. One of the good things to come from his death was that he no longer had the weak body he had in life. His new 'spirit body' was both healthy and strong. While it was not up to the standards of suzaku or kallen, he was by no means weak anymore. The rough living on the edges of rukongai was only improving him. Besides which, he still had his immense brainpower. So he was not completely helpless.

But still, the feeling of powerlessness he got from the loss of geass would not go away. In his heart of hearts he knew that his intellectual and physical prowess would never compensate for geass. It set him apart. It defined him. Now he was at a loss, he felt like he lost a part of his identity.

* * *

><p><em>Outskirts of the settlement...<em>

The settlement, when he finally got to it, looked like it could give most of the ghettos in area eleven a run for their money. Wooden buildings clustered close together. Dusty dirt tracks between them serving as makeshift roads. Most of the buildings were residential. Groups of people living together in the manner of an extended family. He had learned that when new people arrived in soul society they were usually taken in by one of these family groups. A family broken up in death usually never reunited in soul society. But the human need for companionship meant that people would soon find an alternative to their missing family. Of course no such luck for him.

The entire settlement was made up of buildings like this. So far he had yet to see stone and brick used for building in soul society. Indeed it still surprised him how incredibly backwards and poverty stricken soul society was. Another thing he had failed to find was any form of advanced technology. He was even starting to wonder if soul society simply lacked in the metals and fuels that made modern civilization possible. It was either that, or it was the fact that most of its populous came from another world, and they saw this as their final resting place. A place to put their feet up and not do any work.

Aside from the family residences, there were only a few shops and social buildings. And most of those were gathered together in the center of the settlement.

This was were his destination was.

* * *

><p><em>Several hours later...<em>

Lelouch pulled the wide brimmed hat down over his eyes and ducked his head under the door as he stepped inside the crude wooden building. Inside was dimly lit because of the half open windows and lack of proper lighting. It had taken some careful inquiry on his part to find this place, now he came here regularly. He had spent the better part of the morning loafing around the settlement, it was now past noon and the time this place opened up for business.

The long room was scattered with short oriental tables and men sitting around them cross-legged talking in low voices, a variety of different games were already underway.

This had been his main pastime and means of supporting himself. He had always enjoyed the little gambling trips he made with rivalz when alive. It had made his otherwise dull life interesting, given him a steady income, and paid for nunnally's medical expenses. Now here in the afterlife it kept him fed.

Lelouch's eyes swept the room in a long slow movement as he walked inside, most of the games were dice but a few were board games. And finally in the far corner of the room, what he had come to find, chess, his source of pleasure and profit. Even though the players he had come across so far had been hardly worth mentioning, a match with clovis would have been preferable over any one of them.

* * *

><p>After a few minutes of bargaining he sat down across a table and gave small nod to his opponent, an old man with a bald pate and drooping mustache. He had learned that people age very slowly in soul society, this man must be ancient to look this old.<p>

The old man smiled at lelouch.

"I hear you have earned quite the reputation in this establishment young man." the old man said through the smile.

Lelouch gave a thin smile, almost a smirk, in return "You flatter me. I haven't been here long enough to earn a reputation sir."

"Still in this small time you have never lost a match, that is a noteworthy achievement." the old man seemed to be seizing him up his eyes flicking from the exposed half of his face to his cloths.

"Been sleeping rough i see" the question startled lelouch for a moment, even as he realized how perceptive this old man was.

"I don't plan on settling down here, in fact I plan to move on in a few days, so no need to look for better accommodations." lelouch answered with care.

The old man nodded with another small smile "Well then, i'm glad i got to play you before you left. I seldom get interesting opponents hereabouts, and you look to be interesting."

"Again you flatter me sir, shall we begin then?" lelouch gestured to the board.

"Ofcourse." the old man was white, he moved first. Kings pawn to e4.

Lelouch smiled and mirrored his opponent.

The old man responded by bringing his queens pawn out next.

Slowly and deliberately, Lelouch moved his king forward behind his pawn.

The old man studied the board carefully, and then looked up at lelouch. Studying him even more carefully. "This is the first time i saw this from a person who was not a novice."

"The king has to move, otherwise how can his people follow?" lelouch replied calmly.

The old man nodded slowly "I see, well then, shall we see if you can still win with a choice like that."

Lelouch merely smirked. For him the game truly began the moment he moved the king. Once the king moved to the front lines, there is no turning back. Its victory or nothing.

* * *

><p>Fifteen minutes later, lelouch was walking out of the gambling house with his winnings. A small satisfied smile on his face. The old man , who had introduced himself as mutsuo, was a good player and had the experience to go with it. The game had been interesting, and both of them had enjoyed it. Old man mutsuo had payed him in good humor and had even invited him over for tea, which he had refused politely. He didn't want to get too involved with people here. He certainly didn't want them seeing his bare face.<p>

While not everyone in soul society would know him by his face, he knew from the talk he had picked up that word had gotten around about the "Demon Emperor" who had terrorized the world of the living. And if someone identified him, like in that accursed settlement back at his arrival site, things could get ugly very fast.

So he had resolved to change his appearance as soon as possible. The most simple step had been getting a hat to cover the top half of his face. It hid both his hair and eyes and also completely changed his profile. A scarf tied around his neck and shoulders, easy to pull up to cover the lower half of his face, completed the disguise. Both items, like the rest of his cloths, had been acquired by way of a little night time burglary on an unsuspecting rukongai citizen.

He had plans for a more permanent disguise. Hair dye and a wig will give him much better options. Now he had finally won enough money from his last few matches to be able to afford them, which was why lelouch was now making his way towards a little shop tucked away in a corner of the settlement. But just as he was turning the corner to the street his shop was in, he head a commotion behind him, yelling children.

He barely had time to glance over his shoulder to see several small shapes dashing in his direction. Two of them, a boy and a girl, being chased by a third boy.

Before he could react in any way the two in the lead had skirted around him and dashed down the street, while the one chasing was coming too fast to stop himself and crashed into lelouch with a loud thump. Leouch was jarred by the impact. But the boy just stumbled back, regained his footing, and tore off down the street in pursuit of the other two without even a word of apology. By the time lelouch regained his senses, he just caught a glimpse of a stock of red hair disappearing down the street.

Lelouch frowned and, shaking his head to clear it, headed for the shop.

* * *

><p>The old lady at the shop was clearly surprised by a young man asking for hair dye. But she didn't ask questions and rummaged through her stock to finally come up with what he asked for.<p>

It was only when he reached for his money to pay for it that lelouch finally realize that he had been robbed.

"Those brats" he snarled.

The old lady was taken aback by the sudden outburst and sudden change of expression from the man who a moment ago was being pleasant and polite.

Lelouch collected himself while the old shopkeeper was still looking at him worriedly. He flashed the old woman a small smile "Please excuse me for a moment, I will be back."

Outside he leaned against the shop wall and closed his eyes tightly. Those brats. All the money he had won at the match was gone. He didn't know how long he would have to wait for another match, or even if he did, its winnings would cover his loss. The only possible culprits were the kids. The one who crashed into him, the redhead, had done it. They had executed a well planned routine. And he had fallen right in. Those brats. He was going to skin them. Just as soon as he found them.

Lelouch let out a tired sigh. It was highly unlikely that he could track down a trio of kids who were on their home turf and who had just made a haul. They would be laying low. But wait, he thought the situation over, replaying the episode in his head. The children had been shabby and wild, not domesticated at all, he thought with a smirk. So street kids. And why would street kids need to rob him? What could they hope to gain? In soul society you don't need much for survival. So why try something so risky. Daylight robbery was no joke. Unless...they were hungry, he smiled.

* * *

><p><em>Sometime later...<em>

Lelouch was watching from the shade of a nearby shack as the boy with the red hair came up to the food vendor. Even though they didn't need to, people still ate in soul society. Out of force of habit, and for entertainment. He supposed it would be the same as going to a movie back home. But the food business was not as profitable as it would be in the world of the living. With the small number of customers and the correspondingly small number of shops. As he had taken the time to familiarize himself with the general overlay of the settlement when he was searching for the gambling house. He knew were the food stalls were. It was easy to calculate were the children will most likely go. And now he was proved correct.

* * *

><p><em>With the redheaded thief...<em>

The red haired boy was walking off with his arms full of bundled bread sticks, when a hand reached out from an ally and caught him by the scruff of his neck. He kicked futilely as he was whisked down the ally and pushed roughly back against one of its wooden walls.

He looked up to see a man wearing a wide brimmed hat that cast its shadow across his face smiling down at him. For some reason the smile made him very nervous.

"Well well, fancy running into you here young man, it was so rude of you to run off like that after bumping into me earlier." the smile became a smirk. " You didn't even give me an apology."

The redheads eyes widened as the identity of the man clicked into place.

"Look mister, ill give you the money back." he was trying to run damage control.

"You mean other than what you just spent." and it wasn't working.

"Look mister." he tried again nervously, trying to turn his neck a bit to avoid getting cramped by the mans stranglehold. "I'm sorry for that, but i will give you the rest of it."

"Please do."

The boy reached into his rags and bought out the money pouch he had relived the man of. The man took it in his hand and weighted it in his hand causally.

"hmmm, you haven't spent that much of it."

Trying to nod only made the cramp in his neck worse "I only bought the bread."

The man was still smiling, and he still hadn't let go, he just pocketed the money. The boy was getting the feeling that he wouldn't get out of this without a beating.

"Now then young man, i have some questions" the man said in that annoyingly smooth voice. "First off, why did you feel the need to rob me?"

"Cant you just let me go, you got the money back, Ow." the last was when he was shaken by the neck.

"But I didn't get all of it back, you spent some of it, so the least you can do it pay me back by answering a few questions." the bastard was still smiling.

"Fine, what do you want to know." the boy asked sullenly.

"How about my earlier question, why did you rob me?"

"Look mister, its not as if we wanted to, but we had to, we needed to get the food."

"You were hungry?"

"Yes." the boy answered, still skulking.

"I thought so." the man seemed satisfied, satisfied enough to cut him loose? The redhead sighed as he showed no sign of letting go. "And you followed me from the gambling house didn't you?"

This time the boy was surprised. "Yes."

The man nodded. "That was a clever distraction you three came up with, fooled me completely, i didn't even know i was robbed till i had to pay for something in a shop."

Again surprise. The bastard was praising him and giving him a neck cramp at the same time? "Uh, thank you mister, I guess."

The man let out a snort this time. "One last question, and you can go. And you can keep the food as well. I know what its like to be hungry."

The redhead immediately brightened up. "Ok." Then what he heard registered. "You have reiryoku(spiritual power) too?"

"So i am told, but that is not my question, the question is..."

"Hey pointy hat!" the shout came from just behind them.

The man turned, surprised at the sound, and was hit square in the face by a porridge of dust, sand and dirt. It got in his eyes and mouth. And then he did the worst thing he could have done at that momment, he breathed in.

The coughing, spluttering man had let go of him to paw at his face. And the redhead didn't waste any time running past him to the ally entrance. The bundle of bread sticks fell and scattered all over the ground in his wake. His two companions were waiting for him at the ally mouth.

"Good shot." he told them grinning. "And i told you two to wait till i came back."

The dark haired girl smacked him across the shoulder. "If we hadn't followed you would be needing a new neck." She turned and sped off "Come on."

The other two took off after her. The redhead still trying to rub the back of his neck as he ran.

Back in the ally the man finally managed to get enough of the muck out of his mouth and nose to breathe properly. He spent another moment panting and spitting to get the taste out of his mouth. Then he walked up to the ally mouth and looked up and down the street. No sign of any of the culprits.

"Those brats!" lelouch snarled.

* * *

><p>It was almost sundown when he finally made it back to the shop. The shop lady was watching him warily from behind her counter. No doubt wondering about his sweaty dusty appearance and thinking him some kind of madman, lelouch thought wryly.<p>

"Hello again. I was asking about some hair dye earlier today" he said helpfully.

When lelouch left the shop, his pack was loaded with a selection of dye and something extra he found. The general helpfulness and good nature of the shop keeper had won past even in the face of a potential madman in her shop, and she had been glad to point out more accessories for his plan. He had given her the most convenient explanation, he was courting someone and wanted to change his style. This, added to his rather charming manners satisfied the old lady and got her out of her fright.

As lelouch finally made it to the outskirts of the settlement, he realized that he would not be able to make it back to his little hollow before sundown. And wandering rukongai by night was a bad idea, especially if you had spiritual power. But he also didn't dare sleep in the town till his disguise was complete. He would probably end up raising another mob if he was recognized, but he risked being eaten by a hollow if he continued.

He growled in frustration. "Those brats." It had taken hours for him to get his money back, and now the cost of the lost time was showing.

"I swear, if I get myself killed today, i'm going to come back as a hollow, and i'm going to hunt the brats down."

Lelouch hauled his pack onto his shoulders and started walking resolutely in the direction of the forest.

* * *

><p><em>So there you have it, chapter 1, and the true beginning of the story. What do you think? As always reader input aka: reviews are greatly appreciated.<em>

_Note that i decided to remove his geass. Mostly as i'm pretty sure death severs the contract. And secondly as it would give him a god mod advantage in rukongai. So now lulu has only his wits and good looks to get him out of any trouble he might land in._

_Also I need to name and number the rukongai district he is on, does anyone have ideas?_


	3. Chapter 2: A Memorable Night Part 1

_chapter 2 is up, featuring the midnight adventures of lelouch._

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 2: A Memorable Night Part 1<span>

The rukongai forests were very different from the forests around the kururugi shrine that he had gone exploring in with suzaku so long ago. The very trees felt far more ancient and forbidding. And the calls of the night animals felt alien, leading him to wonder if soul society housed more exotic and different creatures than the world of the living. Even though so far he had only seen fauna he was familiar with, the possibility remained.

Lelouch let out a sigh, his nervous mind was coming up with all kinds of fancy rubbish in an attempt to distract him from his predicament. He just wasn't cut out for this kind of wilderness survival. He really should look into finding a place to stay in the settlement. Or maybe make a little dwelling for himself in the outskirts. As much as he liked the idea of living apart from people, he knew that more people equaled better protection. Well, soon enough his disguise, long in the planning, will be complete and he would be free to turn his efforts to finding a better dwelling than a forest clearing. It wasn't as if he was exactly free to look into it before. Too busy running for his life, learning to survive in the forest, stealing cloths, getting robbed...he shook his head, focus.

He cast a careful glance around him, nothing moved or made a sound. Still, the sooner he made it back the better. He had been lucky so far, but saw no reason to tempt fate. He knew that hollows hunted in the wilderness areas of rukongai. And so had always been careful to do nothing that would attract attention to him...except of course when circumstances went beyond his control. Still, even stuck with wandering in a forest in the middle of the night, he had to admit he felt...at peace. All his life he had been a driven man. A man with so many ambitions. But in the end, he had achieved them all...Now his only concern was day to day living. He could almost feel a smile tug at his face, from waging war on the entire world to this...wait, what was that?

He looked behind him. Nothing, false alarm? He could have sworn he heard something...Come to think of it, no, he didn't exactly hear anything, more like got the feeling that someone was behind him. But nothing to be seen, so...nervous mind playing tricks?

He smirked, yes he had come far from his old life, from genius conqueror to poverty stricken outcaste jumping at shadows. Even his extraordinary mind was going rusty from disuse, if he was this rattled this easy.

"Feeling nervous are we?"

...what? Lelouch panicked and, letting out a rather high pitched yell, spun around looking for the source of the voice.

He ended up face to face with the black outline of a figure standing just behind him, so close he could have reached out and touched it. He yelled again and jumped backwards, this time missing his footing and landing on his ass in a most undignified way.

The figure laughed softly as it stepped forwards to were the moonlight would catch it, revealing itself to be a man sporting a head of messy back hair and a black kimono. And more importantly, there was a katana sheathed at his hip, and his hand was on the hilt.

So it wasn't his mind playing tricks after all, lelouch thought as he scrambled to his feet and backed away. He had somehow known that the man was behind him. Still, this was not the time for that line of thought. Think of his options, he could always make a run for it, he took another step back...

There was a wooshing sound, a gust of wind and...something else, and suddenly, something shoved him in the back, hard. He stumbled forwards and looked over his shoulder. There was another man behind him, this one dressed in a black outfit identical to the first mans but sporting a bald head and with a sheathed katana causally laid across one shoulder.

"Thats far enough" baldy said while lelouch was still trying to work out were the man had come from.

* * *

><p><em>several agonizing seconds later<em>

Lelouch felt that all of this was a bit unfair, all he wanted to do was get back to his little den in the forest and get some sleep after an eventful day, and here he was instead, accosted by two sword wielding ruffians. Could this situation get any worse?

Now that he thought about it...the men were wearing black outfits identical to the shinigami who sent him here. He had learned that all shinigami wear the same uniform, and the one man _had_ just suddenly popped up in a gust of wind. So that just might make these two shinigami. And if that was the case those swords weren't just swords, they were zanpaktou, the magic swords of the shinigami that, according to rumor, depending of which tale you believed, packed the power of anything from a rocket launcher or a hadron cannon. Okay, things could get worse.

But the question was, why would two potential shinigami want to waylay him? Had they found out who he was? and were here to take care of him? It was one of several possibilities, but very unlikely, he had been careful, very careful. So that left the other possibilities, well maybe a simple question would clear things up.

"Who are you? what do you want?" lelouch asked, forcing his voice into relative calm.

The first man, the one with the sword at his hip, was the one who answered "I would say you know who we are already boy" and with that the air around lelouch was filled with a heavy suffocating presence, it was hard to breathe, his eyes blurred, and his mind wouldn't function...what was happening? Then, just as suddenly, it was gone, and lelouch drew in deep gasping breaths as the presence vanished.

"Shi...shinigami" lelouch managed through the gasping breaths.

"That is correct boy, we are shinigami, and when we saw you wandering the forest at this hour, we became a bit suspicious. So why don't you tell us what you are up to."

Lelouch collected himself with extreme effort and forced his shocked and tortured mind to work at maximum speed, what had the man done just now? how had he made him choke like that? that pressure, it felt like? no that was for later, what answer to give? Of course, the most simple one.

"I, i got lost in the forests, was looking for a place to spend the night." hopefully the men would believe him without looking into it too deeply.

The messy haired man shook his head " You fool, wandering the forest at night, you could have been hollow food, especially a boy like you, we could feel your r_eiatsu_, and if we could feel it, you can bet that skinny ass of yours that others could too."

_Reiatsu__? _Spiritual power? They could feel his spiritual power? So that was how they had tracked him. But if thats the case, then would not the opposite be true as well? Could he feel others spiritual power the same way they could feel this? Was that the feeling he had gotten when he thought someone was behind him? had he in fact felt their spiritual power?

Yes, if he concentrated even now, he could feel...something, coming off the man in front of him, and he felt the same from the man behind him. So that makes for one answered question.

The first man was still talking while lelouch was drawing these conclusions.

"Well at least you wont be eaten by a hollow, thats not a very nice way to go" in one smooth movement the mans katana left its sheath "Now, im afraid we must ask you to hand over any money and valuables you have on you" The blade came up to point at his chest.

….what?

"He means we're robbing you" baldy added from behind him.

Robbing? why would they need to rob the likes of him?

Lelouch was instantly alert for danger. These were shinigami, the elite of soul society, they can walk into any settlement and ask for anything they want, and probably get it without even having to pay for it.

So why? His eyes roamed over the first man, and then the second, noticing things he hadn't before in his panic. The black uniforms, while well made, were looking rather shabby and unkempt. The men too looked rather unshaven and unwashed. Unless the shinigami structure was utterly different from the military of the living world, its unlikely that this level of ill discipline will be tolerated, even in the field.

So maybe... just maybe they didn't get their supplies in the settlement because they could not go there, they would be seen and reported, so they had to stick to the forest. But if they were lucky enough to catch some fool wandering the forest all alone, they could relive him of his belongings and silence him so he cant spread word of them. His jaw dropped as realization came.

Messy hair grinned at him "I see you've worked it out " he shook his head "Well we were going to have to kill you anyway, you picked a very bad day to get lost in the forest boy"

Lelouch swallowed, deserters. He was dead, unless he came up with a plan.

* * *

><p>He began by putting on his best terrified expression, which turned out to be surprisingly easy, "Look, look you don't have to do this! I will give you whatever you want" he let his voice shake, "Look i have some coin"<p>

First distract them. Money was always the best distraction, right alongside kallen in a bunny suit, not that that last one would help him here, no bunny suit, and no kallen.

He tossed the bag of coins to the shinigami who caught it and weighed it before opening it, looking decidedly pleased with himself. The bald shinigami also moved over to his friend, peeking at the contents, perfect.

"And then there are some things in my pack you might find useful..." lelouch pulled the pack off his shoulders and opened it, surreptitiously palming a bottle of hair dye as he hefted it up and held it up to them. He was keeping the hand holding the bottle covered by the pack even as he worked the cap loose from the bottle.

Just as the men shifted attention from the coins to the pack, lelouch used all his strength to throw the pack at the man holding the coin pouch. And just as he had anticipated, the man was torn between keeping the coins safe and avoiding the pack. The pack hit him square in the face, causing him to stagger and making both the coins and the contents of the pack to go scattering across the forest floor.

As the man started yelling in anger lelouch was already swinging the hair dye bottle at baldy. Baldy had his katana out and in a guard position so fast that to lelouch it looked like the blade just appeared in his hand. With that kind of speed he would have stopped any thrown projectile, but a stream of liquid was another story.

The dye hit baldy square in the face, and the man screamed and dropped his blade as the liquid got in his eyes.

Without wasting a second lelouch turned and ran for his life, weaving among the trees and heading in the direction were he calculated the settlement was. If he could put distance between the two shinigami and himself, if he could get close enough to the settlement, then they would give up on him.

At least one of the men was out of action, blinded temporarily or permanently, and the second would be torn between helping his friend, collecting the coins, and pursuing him. All he had to was keep running and he would survive.

Suddenly pain exploded in his back, and lelouch found himself flung to the forest floor, landing hard and rolling a couple of times with the impact.

It took a while to lift himself up and raise his head, and it took longer for him to see past the haze of pain and the tears in his eyes, but when he did, he could see a hazy shape standing over him.

He focused through the pain. A shinigami, this one was much younger looking with his hair done in a topknot.

There had been three of them. And he had taken only two out of action.

Failure to properly assess the enemy's strength, how could he have made such a mistake?

The shinigami smiled and kicked lelouch hard in the stomach. The blow lifted him up completely and threw him on his back, the pain was so intense lelouch temporarily blacked out.

When he finally came to his senses again, feeling like he had been run over by the lancelot, he found the blade of a katana at his throat, so close that if he breathed deeply it would have drawn blood.

"You are one clever bastard, you know" the mans lips curved into a smile "you may have blinded kujo back there, and if it wasn't for me you would have gotten away. We would have killed you of course, but it would have been quick and painless, now though"

The shinigami slowly moved the tip of the blade away from his throat going down until it came to rest on his stomach. The smile became a snarl.

"You deserve something special for your stunt back there. You will die very painfully and very slowly"

* * *

><p>Lelouch was paralyzed with fear, staring in horror at the blade of the zanpaktou. How had he come to this, he had once conquered the world! How could he be dying like this, in the middle of an unnamed forest at the hands of a deserter. A month ago all he had to do was give the word and either his black knights or the imperial guard would have cut these filth to ribbons. And if all else failed, he could simply command them to die, and they would obey. He had fallen so far since then. He was so powerless. No black knights, no imperial guards...no geass. Powerless and useless, he had barely begun his afterlife, and now it will end.<p>

And dammit, why? why was he so afraid? He had once been run through with a sword, he had had no fear then. Now he was terrified, was it because he was going to die ignobly and namelessly for no reason other than highway robbery? His chance of a new life wasted?

No no! He refused to accept this, he would live...he would fight for his life.

Something built up in his chest, like a flood struggling against a dam, fighting to get out. Almost without knowing what he was doing, he let it loose.

The shinigamis eyes widened.

* * *

><p>The shinigami leaped back from lelouch, landing a good twenty feet away and bringing his sword up in both hands in a fighting stance, standing with his feet planted wide apart.<p>

Lelouch was on his feet without him even noticing, feet planted firmly fists clenched at his sides. The pain of his body could barely be felt, and strength flowed through him from some were deep inside his body, radiating outwards. He felt like he could crush a mountain in his bare hands, he felt like he could tear this arrogant fool to shreds.

"What the hell" the shinigami snarled, "What the hell were you hiding"

Lelouch chuckled like a maniac in response "What was I hiding? Whats the matter, no longer have the guts to disembowel me?" He took a step forwards, the shinigami griped his blade tighter "You who have been given power over normal souls, you who's duty it is to protect all of soul society, have turned away from everything that you should be and have turned your strength upon those weaker than yourself" He grinned mockingly "And now that your pray has proven to be more then you bargained for, you tremble like a child" Lelouch was still buoyed up by the power coursing through him "You, are pathetic!"

The shinigamis face twisted with emotion, "You bastard, you know nothing, nothing!" he flexed his stance preparing to attack "I'm going to cut you to pieces you bastard!"

Then, before either of them could do or say anything more, the air was once more filled with the same suffocating, mind numbing presence that he felt before. But this time it was a different kind of presence. While before it had made him feel suffocated, this time it also make him feel like throwing up, he could almost smell the scent of rotting carrion in the air. And he got the feeling of...hunger, an immense hunger was coming from the presence.

* * *

><p><em>And that, young shinigami, is why you mustn't raise your r<em>eiatsu<em> just for the heck of it, a shark can smell blood 2.5 miles away, a hollow can smell a juicy shinigami soul from even further._

_Yes, ahem,...anyway._

_Chapter 2 is up. Lelouch meets his first, well second, bunch of shinigami and his first hollow is around the corner. Also he releases his r_eiatsu for the first time. All in all a lot happened. I wonder if this moved too fast actually, what do you guys think? Should the pace slow down? __

__Also you might notice that I spent an enjoyable chapter using lulu as a football, I even interrupted his badass moment at the end. :-) This is something else id like you guys opinion on, should this continue? Or should poor widdle lulu be treated better?__

_I hope to get part two of this up very soon. Until then, feedback is greatly appreciated. _


	4. Chapter 3: A Memorable Night Part 2

_Chapter 3 is up featuring the trilling conclusion to the might night adventures of lelouch  
><em>

_Taking the readers advice i wont be changing the pace of the story. Also i finally named his district, It will be showing up later. Other than that my update speed may slow down for a while from next month onwards due to unavoidable(educational) circumstances. I promise to do my best to keep the story going though.  
><em>

_So onward to the chapter..._

* * *

><p>The shinigami had taken his attention off lelouch completely and now had his eyes fixed on the surrounding forest. "No, that fool. Letting his reiatsu loose like that, i knew this would happen"<p>

Without a word the shinigami turned and began to run back the way they had come from.

Lelouch stood staring after the departing shinigami, trying to make sense of what was happening. He could feel the presence, the _reiatsu _according to the shinigami, of someone or maybe something.

And that something had made the shinigami forget him and run back to his friends. But what could...

Suddenly the night was split by an ear wrenching scream, a human scream, coming from the direction the shinigami had disappeared to. The same direction the other two shinigami were.

Then, as if in accompaniment to the human scream, another sound shook the forest. This one was a roar, full of power and animal fury.

And suddenly he knew.

_Hollow_, lelouch thought furiously. Its a damned hollow. The very thing he had wanted to avoid, and had taken great pains to avoid, had happened. If he lived through this, those brats were going to pay.

* * *

><p>Now, the question was, what to do?<p>

By the sound of things the hollow and the shinigami were already going at it. Both parties were likely to be occupied for sometime. The best course of action would be to use the time to get away. And yet, there was something wrong about leaving anyone, even his attempted murderers, to face a hollow without doing anything to help. Besides, he had no idea in which direction was the settlement was. He had lost track during his tumble. Well thats easy to solve. If you put the approximate location of the hollows roar and the shinigami's scream at his original ambush site...it should be...there. He had it.

So now he had a direction in which to run. But still, something was stopping him.

He was still standing there debating when, with a suddenness that left him shocked, the reiatsu of the hollow vanished.

It took lelouch completely by surprise. The hollows reiatsu had been filling the area, almost making him want to choke, and suddenly, it was gone. Had the shinigami defeated the hollow already? If so, bad news. Had to move it. He turned to run in the direction of the settlement.

Then suddenly, throwing him completely off balance, the hollows reiatsu exploded right in front of him.

Lelouch barely had the time to register what had happened when it was looming over him, as tall a kinghtmare frame, looking like nothing he had ever seen, living or dead.

It looked like a giant scorpion. With two huge pincers larger than a man and six legs coming out of a impossibly long body that was a slick oily black. He could see a tail waving above its head tipped with a sting like apparatus. What made it different from a scorpion was its face, there was a face attached to a short neck on the front of its torso, in between its pincer arms. The face was covered in a pure white skull like mask, triangular in shape with the mouth fixed in a permanent grin.

On pure instinct, with out any thought, lelouch jumped to avoid the pincer that was coming for him.

It missed cutting him in half by inches and lelouch scrambled to safety.

How did this happen? he thought to himself frantically. How could it get ahead of me so fast, and what in hell happened to those shinigami? They were supposed to keep this thing busy.

Just as he was able to regain his footing, the hollow flew at him for another attack. So fast lelouch could barely follow it.

One of its claws landed were he had been an instant before as lelouch jumped back and out of the way. Again barely avoiding the blow.

As he backed off still facing the creature, lelouch wondered how he was going to get out of this. The hollow was obviously stronger and faster then him, there was no hope of outrunning it or distracting it. Anything he could do now would only delay the inevitable.

Lelouch cursed. There had to be a way... Some way out of this. He just had to find it.

Even as he was wracking his brain, the hollow surprised him yet again.

"Well this is surprising" it said, in a voice that dripped malice. "I thought you were another shinigami from your reiatsu, but you are just another soul with too much reiatsu"

...what? It was talking. The hollow could actually talk.

Lelouch struggled to get his mind around the idea. He had thought the hollows were mindless beasts from the talk he had picked up in rukongai. If it can talk, then maybe it could be reasoned with.

"Well ill just finish you off and get back to dealing with them" Okay, maybe not.

The hollow raised its pincers a third time.

Lelouch prepared to dodge, though his chances were slim.

"Hadō 31 Shakkahō"

A ball of crimson light came the size of a soccer ball came out of nowhere and collided with the hollow, causing a huge explosion of light and noise.

The hollow leapt back from lelouch, waving its pincers and roaring in rage. Its reiatsu spiked in time with the roar, rising to such a pitch that, combined with the noise and light of the blast, it was making lelouch dizzy and light headed.

* * *

><p>When he regained his senses, he saw a sight that almost made him doubt his sanity.<p>

The two shinigami, topknot and messy hair, were facing off against the hollow. Their zanpaktou out and held in defensive positions.

It took a while for him to come to terms with what he was seeing. He had thought the hollow had already dealt with all of the shinigami. In fact, he looked around, no sign of the third one. So the scream he heard was probably the bald shinigami. Well he _had_ blinded the man with the dye. Which would have made him an easy target for the hollow. And he had also managed to separate their two remaining fighters, making his situation even worse.

Lelouch winced, yes the hollow definitely would have had an easy time back there with baldy.

Even as he was facing the hollow, topknot cast a quick glance behind his shoulder and caught lelouch's eye.

"You are still a bastard, but you were right about one thing" topknot said "We had forgotten who we were. A shinigami is supposed to protect people by killing hollows. And that," He bought his gaze to settle on the hollow again "is what we are going to do"

Even in this life and death situation, lelouch couldn't help but smirk.

Its very easy to loose sight of your purpose, he recalled the assault on the geass directorate, but remembering that purpose again and living up to it was what redemption was all about.

The hollow disagreed. It opened its masks mouth and screamed at the shinigami.

Lelouch could feel the waves of its reiatsu washing over him in time with the scream.

Just at that moment, some unseen signal passed between the two shinigami, and they leap at the hollow as one. A shingle leap each that effortlessly closed the distance between them and the hollow.

One was in the lead, coming in to slash at the hollows left flank. Even as the hollow swung its pincers at the threat, the shinigami leapt away and out, a twenty foot leap. His partner suddenly came up on the right flank of the beast, swinging his zanpaktou with both hands, cutting into one the hollows pincer arm.

Bright red blood sprayed fourth from the wound on to the ground, a a gaping wound on its arm below the pincer.

The hollow screamed and charged the shinigami with animal rage, and this time the other shinigami was behind the hollow cutting into its back.

This dance continued for some time, with one shinigami feinting and the other moving in for an attack. The hollow was bleeding from a dozen cuts, its two arms crisscrossed with wounds. Still it was fighting, and showed no sign of weakness or slowing down. Its vitality must be monstrous, lelouch thought.

Still if the shinigami could keep this up they will bring the hollow down, not that the two of them were entirely free of injury, both of them were bleeding from brushes with the pincers, but none of the injuries were serious.

Then all of a sudden, the hollow changed tactics.

Topknot had come in from the left again, faking an attack to the hollows mask, when he swerved off and messy hair came in from the right, aiming for its pincer arm on his side. The hollow suddenly jumped back, surprising both messy hair and topknot. It then opened the sting on the end of its tail like some obscene flower and spewed a thick foul smelling gas into the air.

The area around the hollow was suddenly obscured, the gas acting as a smoke screen. Both shinigami and the hollow were lost in the cloud. Lelouch let out a curse as the cloud moved over to him as well, making it almost impossible to see.

Then suddenly the hollows reiatsu vanished.

Suddenly lelouch understood, it can mask its reiatsu. This was how it was able to avoid the shinigami and come to ambush him. Hit and run tactics. It confused the enemy with its smoke screen and, concealing its reiatsu, hit were its enemy was weakest.

So, in a situation like this, with your sight impaired, and with only your ability to sense reiatsu to show you your enemies location...

A sickening sounding chunk came from the smoke, followed by a scream of pain, a _human_ scream of pain, which trailed off into a gurgle.

Next came the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. Followed by a second of silence, which was broken by the desperate scream of denial by one of the shinigami.

The gas had started to disperse almost immediately afterwards. And through its vanishing tendrils lelouch could see that his worst fears were realized.

The topknot sporting shinigami stood with his blade held limply by his side, staring in shock at the dead body of the messy haired one. The man had almost been ripped in two by the hollows pincer, breaking his spine clean and spilling his entrails onto the forest floor.

Of the hollow, there was no sign.

* * *

><p>The topknot sporting shinigami was staring the body of his comrade and muttering under his breath. His hand holding the sword was shaking. He looked, in truth, to be one step away from loosing it.<p>

Lelouch sighed and spoke in the calmest voice he could muster. "Calm down"

The shinigami's head snapped up in his direction. "What?"

"I know you are upset, but you must overcome it. This is exactly what the hollow hoped to achieve, it wanted to throw you off balance so it could get you with another surprise attack."

"Upset, upset" the mans face was twisted up, lelouch sighed again. "Of course i'm upset" topknot screamed at lelouch. "My friends are dead!"

"Upset is fine, but don't let it affect your judgment, remember the battle isn't likely over yet. It could be back any minute"

"Shut up you bastard. I told you,you know nothing about us" the man was screaming in his face.

"You are right, I know nothing about your circumstances" lelouch replied "But I do know that if you carry on like this we will both join him" he deliberately pointed at the dead man.

The shinigami involuntary looked at his dead friend again, and drew a shuddering breath. He stepped away from lelouch and griped his sword with both hands.

"Don't worry, it wont get me by surprise" his reiatsu started to rise. "I'm not going to give it the chance" The man drew in another deep breath.

"I'm going to kill that thing!"

Reiatsu exploded from the shinigami, stronger than any lelouch had felt so far. His body had started to glow with a pale blue light. And even as lelouch watched the light grew outwards and flared like a banner. Lelouch realized that he was seeing the physical manifestation of the shinigami's reiatsu.

"Come out of were you are hiding beast" the shinigami screamed at the surrounding forests "Come out and die"

Lelouch let out a sigh of frustration. This was exactly the wrong way to do it.

"Well since you ask so nicely shinigami" the smooth voice of the hollow came as the creature stepped out of the trees. Pincers raised and ready.

The hollows own reiatsu flared along with his enemy, and lelouch could almost feel the two reiatsu clashing together as if in preparation for the actual fight between the two.

* * *

><p>The two opponents, shinigami and hollow, faced each other across the forest floor.<p>

The shinigami with his zanpaktou griped in both hands and his feet planted wide apart. While the hollow was in a crouch with his pincers raised to strike and its tail waving back and forth.

Lelouch watched the two square off, honestly not knowing who the battle will go to.

On the one hand, the hollow was facing its enemy in open combat. And lelouch had already deduced that this hollow preferred to use hit and run tactics. So it would be out of its element. Besides which, it was already cut up pretty badly.

Still it would have a huge advantage in size and speed. And it had taken down two of its three enemies. He himself didn't count an an enemy.

As for the shinigami, if the reiatsu that was coming from him was any indication, he wasn't lacking in strength either. But he was not in the best frame of mind. And had lost all his support.

But the shinigami had clearly had held the advantage when they fought the hollow earlier. So much so that the hollow had been forced to resort to its smokescreen to counter attack.

So lelouch was at a loss, and there was not much he could do to help either. Other then yell encouragement.

Suddenly the shinigami let out a wordless battle cry and leapt at the hollow, sword raised above his head in both hands.

Lelouch could see that he was going strait for the hollows mask. From hearsay he knew that destroying a hollows mask was the best and easiest way to kill it.

The hollow without running or dodging moved forwards to meet the attack head on.

One of its pincers came up and blocked the sword.

Sound, air and reiatsu spilled out from the clash, pushing against lelouch with physical force.

Then suddenly, the hollow bought its other pincer forwards with lightning speed, aiming to strike the shinigami in the flank.

Its opponent tucked his feet under his chest and kicked against the pincer, using it as a platform to leap away from the incoming attack. The shinigami turned a somersault in midair and landed on his feet. But the hollow had followed up on its attack and was already swinging another pincer at him.

Even as he bought his zanpaktou up to block it, the other pincer was already coming into strike his flank, forcing him to jump out of the way.

That was when lelouch realized the precariousness of the shinigamis situation. Before there had been two of them. And between them they had managed to keep the creatures pincers occupied and even manged to get under its guard. Now it was the other way around. The hollow had two pincers to the shinigamis one blade. The shinigami could hold back only one pincer at a time. It was like fighting a man with two swords while holding only one.

The hollow kept pushing the shinigami back, raining blows on him with its pincers. Eventually the man had to jump up into the branches of a tree to avoid the hollow and gain a respite. But lelouch could see from the mans face that he had no intention of giving up.

Lelouch thought desperately for a way to turn the situation around.

It was obvious that, if this continued, the shinigami would end up dead. Then it would be his turn. But what could he do to help the fool? The hollow was larger and faster, if it manged to catch him in one of those pincers he would be chopped in half. Still without help the hollow would win...He had to do something.

Lelouchs gaze settled on the discarded zanpaktou of the messy haired shinigami, laying a few feet away from its former owners corpse.

* * *

><p>The hollow waved its pincers threateningly at the shinigami perched on the tree branch, "Come come now shinigami, hiding in the tree wont save you, nor will it avenge your friend, come down and play" The shinigami simply balanced on the branch and lowered his blade to his side.<p>

"Whats this? lost the will to fight shinigami?" the hollow taunted.

"He will be taking a breather" a voice said from behind the hollow.

It spun around to find lelouch standing behind it, a zanpaktou held ready.

"You?" the hollow laughed "You are no shinigami. A little boy with a lot of reiatsu, thats all you are. The likes of you don't stand a chance against me."

"How certain are you hollow? Its dangerous to make assumptions" lelouch replied, hefting the blade with both hands, "Its that kind of thinking that gets you killed"

"Bah, you must be the greatest fool I met so far" the hollow snarled, no longer amused "Well you want to die so bad, I will oblige"

And with that it charged lelouch.

Lelouch smirked.

"Hadō 31 Shakkahō"

The shout came from behind the hollow. It barely realized what had happed before the ball of red light slammed into the back of its neck.

The hollow let out a howl of rage and started to spin back around to face the shinigami...

putting its vulnerable flank in the path of the descending zanpaktou.

This was what lelouch had done when the hollow had finally treed its enemy. He had gone for the zanpaktou of the fallen shinigami and, taking advantage of the hollow ignoring him completely and having its back to him, had used hand signals to communicate to the shinigami his intention to draw the hollows attention to himself. It wasn't much that lelouch had done, but it was enough to make an opening.

The topknot sporting shinigami's zanpaktou landed a solid blow on one of the hollows pincer arms.

The hollow let out another scream of rage and pain as the severed arm landed at its feet, a bleeding stump were it had been attached before.

The shinigami landed smoothly on his feet and without wasting a moment flew at the hollow, attacking from its wounded side.

This time it was the hollow who was fighting to keep from falling back under the assault as the shinigami rained blows on the remaining pincer.

As the hollow fell back though the shinigami suddenly stopped attacking and pulled back, surprising both the hollow and a watching lelouch.

"Its time to finish this beast" said the shinigami, and he lifted his zanpaktou one handed and pointed the tip at the hollow.

"Fly swiftly Burakkusōn" (Black thorn)

Reiatsu exploded from the shinigami as he glowed with blue light once more. The zanpaktou in his hands transformed in front of lelouch's eyes in to a black hafted and blacked bladed spear, as long as the man was tall.

The shinigami took a stance and in a single smooth movement, hurled spear at the hollow, aiming for the creatures mask.

* * *

><p>Just as it seemed to hit its mask, the hollow, moving with incredible speed, managed to dodge the incoming spear.<p>

And once more it opened its tail and spilled out the gas which made its smoke screen.

As everything was once more obscured in the foul smelling cloud, lelouch saw a flash of brilliant light even though the sight impairing gas accompanied by a massive explotion, presumably from were the spear had landed.

Then he had no time to do or even think anything else as the hollow exploded out of the gas and was upon him.

"Time to die brat" the hollow shouted gleefully as lelouch lost his footing jumping back from the beast and fell of his back. He barely manged to get his blade up in front of him, even though he knew it would not help him block that pincer.

But as the pincer swung down at lelouch, the shinigami flew out of the mist and landed in front of him, empty arms raised to stop the pincer.

That was when lelouch realized the hollows plan.

"No!" he shouted as the pincer caught the shinigami around the middle and lifted him up. Blood spraying everywhere as the hollow shook him like a rag doll.

The hollow laughed maniacally as lelouch stared in horror. "Its over shinigami. I have defeated all of you. None of you stood a chance against me. Iam the ultimate predator, no matter how cunning my prey, in the end I devourer them." the hollow looked down and fixed its gaze on lelouch. "It was good hunting today...three shinigami, and a delicious looking snack for desert."

"You talk too much"

"What?" the hollow was startled as it bought its gaze to settle once more on the limp form held in its pincer.

The shinigami grinned through bloody teeth.

"Burakkusōn"

The black spear flew out of the surrounding wall of gas, heading strait for the hollows mask.

This time the hollow, taken by surprise, had no time to dodge as it impacted with its mask.

The resulting explosion of noise and light stunned lelouch and threw him across the forest floor. Finally bringing him to a crashing halt against a tree trunk.

* * *

><p><em>several painful moments later<em>

Pain was the first feeling he got back, his body, his head everywhere. Then came confusion. How did he get here? Why was he laying down? He tried to pull himself up only to fall down again. Cursing, he scanned his surroundings .

The rapidly dispersing could of gas, the huge body laying on its side...

Suddenly it all came back. The hollow. The transformed zanpaktou striking its mask. Indeed the hollows head, mask included, was entirely destroyed by the blast. Only a gory stump were its neck was. And even as he watched the giant body was starting to dissipate. Crumbling into black ash like substance and then fading away into the air around it.

Lelouch could hardly believe it was over. The monster had seemed unstoppable. It had been like fighting a knightmare frame, only on foot. Even when the shinigami had it outnumbered, even with the opening he had made, it was still by the thinest of margins that it had been bought down. Even then it had manged to take some of the shinigami down with it.

And speaking of shinigami...

Lelouch looked to were the last shinigami was laying on the ground next to the rapidly dissipating hollow. The hollow had given him massive damage when it caught him in his pincer. Without some kind of medical help he would die.

With an enormous effort, forcing himself to ignore the pain of his body, lelouch struggled to his feet and staggered towards the shinigami. As he kelt at the mans side lelouch could see that it was even worse than he imagined.

The pincer had cut through the mans torso below the ribs, damaging internal organs and shredding his intestines. Blood was gushing from the open wound, soaking into the black kimono. Even with britannian technology, there was no repairing this damage. He was dying.

The shinigami looked up and locked eyes with lelouch.

"Yes, i'm a dead man"

"Maybe if we get you to the settlement" even as he said it lelouch knew it would be no use.

The shinigami shook his head as if in agreement. "No one there can do anything. Don't bother"

"Anything I can do for you?" lelouch asked. He didn't know why he made the offer, but it seemed right.

Suddenly the mans eyes focused on lelouch with intensity.

"Yes, there is something I must ask of you...I know I have no right to, after what we tried to do, but..." he looked down at himself, at the gaping wound that was killing him before his eyes.

* * *

><p>It took precious time to explain what the man intended to lelouch, time that bought one of them ever closer to death. It took longer for lelouch to get his head around the concept, and even longer to accept it. When finally he gave his consent, the shinigami had him retrieve his zanpaktou from were it had fallen. It had transformed from the black spear to an ordinary katana once more.<p>

In no time at all they were positioned with the zanpaktou hilt in the shinigamis hand, and the tip of the blade positioned above lelouch's heart.

"Ready?" the shinigami asked.

"Do it" lelouch replied firmly.

"In this state this will kill me... I am Kiyomizu Isato, formerly of the 12th division. Remember me...remember I died a shinigami" the hand on the hilt tightened, ready to thrust.

Lelouch nodded and closed his eyes, and the blade plunged into his chest.

* * *

><p><em>End of chapter 3. <em>

_What do you think? As always reader input is welcome and appreciated._

_Note that i had him stabbed by the zanpaktou of a dying shinigami. And we all know what that means. This was the best route i could come up with to give him shinigami powers outside the academy that was also in cannon. Also i didn't have lelouch actually fight the hollow, as im sure it would have ended badly.  
><em>


	5. Chapter 4: Aftermath

_Hello everyone, chapter 4 is ready. I took CmdrNilles's advice and tried to edit this one more carefully, improving the writing I hope. Please let me know if its better. Also I will be introducing another oc in this chapter. Getting to be a lot of ocs, maybe I should follow up with an oc page sometime. _

_So, begin chapter 4..._

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 4: Aftermath<span>

_Dreamland..._

Lelouch was running, the trees flashed past him, the nighttime forest forbidding and disorienting, the only sound was his desperate panting as he pushed his body to move faster, the hollow was behind him, and it was gaining, he risked a glance over his shoulder, it was almost upon him, a huge beast all pincers and legs and mask. He put his head down and put on another burst of speed, gaining on the hollow, he was doing it, he could escape,

"Onii-sama!" the scream came from behind him, "Help me Onii-sama!"

Lelouch stopped in his tracks, "No, no...nunnally, I forgot nunnally"

He looked behind him again, the hollow was gone, he desperately began to run back the way he came from, he had to get to her, had to, before the hollow did.

Even as he ran, he knew he would never make it, he tried to run faster...another scream came from the forest ahead, and lelouch let out a wordless shout of desperation, he had to run faster!

Then his foot tripped.

"Nunnally!" he screamed as he fell to the forest floor.

The triumphal scream of the hollow shook the forest.

"Onii-sama!"

* * *

><p>Lelouch snapped awake, only to stare in confusion at the surrounding forest, it was night time, almost morning, and he was laying on his sleeping blankets, he closed his eyes with a sigh. Just a nightmare, nothing more. Sleep eluded him after sudden waking, and he spent the rest of the night laying there in a half sleep thinking about the hollow encounter, thinking about nunnally. He was still in the half daze when sunrise finally came and he was hit full in the face by the early morning sunlight penetrating through the forest canopy. He winced and shielded his eyes with an arm, turning his face away to the side as he blinked the last of the sleep out of his eyes.<p>

When vision finally cleared his eyes came to rest on a small tent that had been pitched right next to were he had spread his own sleeping blankets. Lelouch let out an involuntary sigh and fell back on his blankets again, hand covering his eyes as he remembered the events of the past few days anew.

The sight of that tent was indeed an apt reminder of the mess his afterlife had become. Just days ago he thought he had it bad, just because he couldn't reveal his identity without raising a mob of rukongai folk waving torches and clubs, eager for secondhand vengeance against the demon emperor. Ha, now he could only gaze back on those days with nostalgia.

Still, the situation had its benefits.

One was that he now saw the world around him in an entirely different light. All of soul society, which meant this entire world, was made of reishi, otherwise called spirit particles, the trees around him, the animals of the forest, even the air he breathed. Now he could feel that reishi effortlessly, just as he could feel the churning power held within his own body, and, his hand lightly brushed the sheathed katana laying next to his bedroll, yes, there were definite benefits. Lelouch's lips curled into an involuntary smile, this was _his_ sword, no...this was his _zanpaktou_. He could feel the reiatsu coming off the blade, identical to his own, but with a very subtle difference. Touching the blade was like listening to a pulse, it was reaching out to him, its reiatsu pulsing with his touch.

And speaking of reiatsu, he felt a tiny spike of it from the tent, which was a sign that its occupant was coming awake. He pulled himself to his feet, grabbed his zanpaktou and belted it at his waist before walking up to the tent. Stopping at the entrance flap, he cleared his throat to announce himself.

"Come inside Lelouch-san, i'm awake" said the voice from inside.

Pulling aside the flap and ducking in, lelouch met the gaze of a young girl who was sitting up inside the tent. She looked Japanese, a year or so younger than him, with a slender body and long black hair that fell past her shoulders in the back and bangs that came down almost to her eyebrows in the front. She was dressed in the black kimono of the shinigami, a __shihakusho, ___the garment of dead souls, as he now knew it was called. _

"Good morning Ayako-san"

"Good morning to you lelouch-san"

"Shall I help you outside" lelouch asked, being careful not to look at the girls legs.

She gave a small nod of assent, and he maneuvered carefully to carry her out of the tent. After she was settled down outside, with a blanket across her legs, lelouch moved to cook breakfast.

That was another thing that had changed, the girl needed to eat everyday, she was injured, and she had to eat to help her body heal, she had to eat a lot. But fortunately, cooking was one of his many skills, and even with the meager supplies they had, he could do impressive work.

Later, with breakfast finally cooking, lelouch decided to break the silence.

"Its been two days now Ayako-san, its time we talked"

"What about?" she was being polite, but distant, and while he understood the reason for it, and even sympathized with her, this was not the time for emotional indulgence, he had waited as long as they could already.

"I understand how you must be feeling, believe me I have felt the same way, but we need to make plans for the future, if either of us are to make it through this"

She was gripping the sheet covering her legs in her fingers, her eyes cast down. Lelouch could read her thoughts in her pose and her expression, still he waited for her to speak, it would help her in the end.

"I know you have gotten yourself in a lot of trouble by helping me lelouch-san" she replied with her eyes still cast down, "Don't think me ungrateful, don't think that I dont know what you are risking its just that... "

Lelouch stared at the girl, Ayako Koyomizu, shinigami, deserter, and sister of Isato Kiyomizu. He had made a promise, that he would help her, that he would protect her.

* * *

><p><em>Flashback...<em>

"There are...are four of us" isato said through the pain, "The other one is at our camp, she will die, she is hurt, you have to promise...to look after them, promise and i will give you my power" blood bubbled at the mans mouth, it seemed as if he was holding his life together out of sheer strength of will.

So all he asked in exchange was that lelouch help his comrade who might be critically hurt herself. Even if these men had wanted to kill him, had wanted to rob him, that had been desperation that had driven them, lelouch could understand desperation. And he remembered his sister, how he had once desperately begged suzaku to protect her, how he had bowed down before him like he had not done before anyone else.

"I promise" lelouch said his voice rising, "I promise to care for your comrade, no matter the cost or consequences"...

* * *

><p>Lelouch shook his head to clear it, he knew she was feeling grief at the loss of her brother and friends, mixed with anger at herself for being helpless and unable to help them against the hollow, and even more so for having to be dependent on a stranger. Under the circumstances, she was bearing up very well. Still, he needed data to formulate his plans, only she could provide, and besides, he justified to himself, this will help in getting her past her grief.<p>

"Ayako-san, never think yourself a burden to me, I have no regrets about helping you, your brother and his friends saved my life, this is the least I could do to repay that debt" he had neglected to mention the part were they tried to rob him, and, he winced, the part were her brother was ready to spill his entrails. He had simply told her that they had intervened to save him from a hollow attack. It did him no harm, and it did her good, "Besides, its not just me, its up to the both of us to see to it that their sacrifice will not be squandered"

She looked up and gave lelouch a small smile, small, but he felt that is was genuine, "Thank you lelouch-san, you really are putting up with a lot because of me"

Lelouch gave her a small smile in return, recovering from a blow like hers would take time, a lot of time, but she showed all the signs of being able to, after all had made a promise, his gaze lingered briefly on her legs, and he meant to keep it.

They talked for a long time, long after breakfast had been finished. Lelouch kept asking questions, about the shinigami, about soul society, about the shinigami organizational structure, the way they fought, and anything and everything in between. He was learning far more about this new world from her than he ever did from any of the rukongai folk he had spoken with. For being a shinigami, she had studied the history and workings of soul society in a far more in-depth and thorough manner, adding to that he learned that she had belonged to the 12th division, the research and development organization of the shinigami, and that she had been a researcher herself. So she was very knowledgeable about the inner workings of the zanpaktou and the shinigami combat techniques.

He was careful to not ask about the circumstances of her desertion. He did learn that her legs were crushed by falling masonry during their desertion, and that the injury, while massively debilitating in the world of the living, can be healed here in the afterlife, her brother had been using something called healing kido, which involved focusing your reiryoku into producing a magic like effect, to fix her legs, but they were nowhere close to finished yet, and now her brother was gone.

Kido was one of the four combat arts practiced by the shinigami, and while powerful it was the one least often used in actual battle, as it required a lot of concentration and long incantations. The other arts were hakuda, unarmed combat, hoho, the speed arts, techniques allowing the shinigami to move at speeds faster than the eye can follow, and lastly zanjetsu, the art of mastering the zanpaktou.

Lelouch soaked up everything she had to tell him, putting his considerable brainpower to work, and the beginnings of a plan started to take shape in his head.

"When you first left the Gotei, where were you planing to go?" he asked during one of their question and answer sessions.

"We were not sure actually, we had plans to hide out in rukongai, or maybe slip into the world of the living, but they were too close behind us to even think to try it"

Lelouch thought a bit more about that, and exile among the living didn't sound too inviting, after all he had just abandoned that world, he wasn't to go back so soon. "But why couldn't you hide in rukongai? Its huge, im sure you can blend in, with a disguise,"

She shook her head, "No, no matter how we disguise ourselves, its almost impossible to hide our reiatsu, that is why it would never work"

"I see" this was going to be harder than he thought.

"Is there anyway to conceal your reiatsu?"

"Well powerful shinigami can do it, most of the captains can, but for you and me, we would need a special gigai or a concealing cloak" she looked haunted for a moment "They make them in the 12th, we were going to steal them when," she gestured to her legs.

Lelouch nodded, not knowing what to say, finally he settled on the truth.

"I admit Ayako-san, this situation is impossible" his lips quirked in an almost smile "It would take a miracle to emerge from this intact"

She met his eyes squarely, "I told you lelouch-san, if, if you want to make a choice now that you understand how things are, I wont hold you to the promise you made ni-sama"

To her surprise, lelouch actually grinned at that and flicked his index finger against the tip of her nose. He continued grinning as she yelped and swatted at him, "There is something about me that i never told you Ayako-san, I have a specialty in making miracles, in fact I was famous for it, some ungrateful people later called my miracles fake, because they were delivered with a means they were uncomfortable about, but I can make miracles with or without that little detail" he looked into her eyes with an intensity that was impossible to fake, "I promise you this Kiyomizu Ayako, i will help you heal your legs, I will help you to find yourself a riatsu concealing gigai, and I will help you to go into exile were the Gotei Thirteen will never find you"

Ayako stared at him wide eyed, wondering if this was some bizarre attempt to cheer her up. But no, he was looking far more intent for that, this man was actually serious.

"You're mad aren't you?"

She watched in shock as the now confirmed madman leapt to his feet and posed dramatically, a huge grin covering his face as he threw one arm out to the side, almost as if flourishing a non existent cloak.

"You don't believe me do you? Nobody believes me, not until I show results," the grin actually widened, she had thought that an impossible feat, "very well then, I will show you, I will show you what I can do, then you shall see, then you shall be convinced"

"Ni-sama, you saddled me with a lunatic, and you made him a shinigami to boot" she muttered, well he was all she had, and she had to make the best of a bad situation, at least his cooking was delicious.

"Excuse me, madman-san, I mean lelouch-san" she tried to get his attention.

"Yes Ayako-san?"

"Before you work your miracle, I would like to, to visit the graves, you told me about them"

"Of course, we will go there, I should have offered it before, thoughtless of me"

"Thank you lelouch-san"

"Wasn't it madman-san?" he asked

"Wha, no," she protested, waving her arms furiously, "I never said that"

He smiled back at her, "Feeling better already I see"

She blinked "What? You _were_ trying to cheer me up," she hurled a small stone at his head.

"No comment" he replied, rubbing were the stone had landed.

* * *

><p><em>Later...<em>

The trip to the graves was delayed slightly as Ayako insisted that lelouch had to begin training to utilize his newfound shinigami powers. He had the feeling that she was getting back at him for the performance he gave in front of her, but he complied silently, anything to distract her from her grief. Lelouch spent the several hours trying to raise his reiatsu at will, which she said was the first step of the training. She explained that all shinigami feats depend on spiritual power, starting from simple attack and defense. A shinigami can decrease the damage he takes in a fight by releasing his spiritual power around his body, letting it act as armor, and he could deal massive damage the same way by letting his power flow into his weapon, turning a simple strike into a mortal blow, it was the same with speed and strength, the more spiritual power you have the faster and stronger you are, this, she said, giving his body a critical once over, was a good thing, as he didn't look as if he could accomplish much with his physique.

This meant that lelouch spent the better part of an hour feeling like an idiot, holding his zanpaktou in a martial stance, she told him the stance was wrong, _he_ didn't care, and trying in vain to get his reiatsu to come out.

After a full hour of trying with no results, she told him they would take a different route, and he spent the next hour running around the clearing as she pelted him with kido spells, apparently pushing your body and mind to exhaustion was another way to awaken reiatsu, however in his case, it did absolutely nothing, and only served to put a nice collection of bumps and bruises on him. He could feel the power inside him, he could even feel it in others, but he couldn't command it, with geass it had been instinct, a simple thought would bring it out, but this, this was another story.

As he lay exhausted from the effort she told him that they would try a simple exercise next, one that usually helps with kido, empty your mind of all thought, and imagine a dark circle, then imagine the circle getting bigger and bigger, and imagine throwing your body into it... lelouch attempted it, calming his mind, picturing the circle, picturing throwing his body at it, picturing himself surrounded in a black void, and finally...he felt, something, something happened inside him, in that calm back void the thing that kept blocking his attempt to command his power was no more, and his power was rising and flooding the area with his reiatsu, he snapped his eyes open and looked triumphantly at Ayako,

"We should have tried that first"

"Well usually they do try that first in the academy, I felt like a little experiment"

Lelouch felt his reiatsu spike as he fought down the desire to strangle the girl.

* * *

><p>Once he had raised his reiatsu consciously and had gotten the hang of it, it proved to be pretty simple, it was essentially mastering your mind, and for lelouch that was child's play. He mastered it so fast that even ayako was left amazed, according to her, most academy students took weeks to pickup what he just did. Lelouch briefly wondered if the girl had planned to put him through this training for weeks, well that little plan had been foiled, that should teach her not to underestimate him. But just as he was congratulating himself, she happily announced that they could move on to more advanced arts since he had proved to be such a quick study.<p>

He was almost stating to wish she wasn't recovering from her grief so soon, she was beginning to reveal a personality that reminded him uncomfortably of a certain blond student council president, if this was the true her, he had the feeling he would be very uncomfortable in the near future.

It took hours of rest before they were able to make the trip to were lelouch had dug shallow graves for the dead shinigami. Lelouch was carried ayako on his back, using his new found skill at reiatsu manipulation to boost his strength, he had to admit, she was remarkably light for her size, hardly different from carrying nunnally, he told her as much, and was rewarded with a hug, it was going to take a long time to understand this girl.

* * *

><p>These had not been the first graves he had dug with his own hands, the first was for rolo, thinking of his adopted little brother made him wonder if rolo was here in soul society, and if they would ever meet again. He set her down next to the graves and walked away, letting her have some privacy, this scene, including his carrying her on his back, reminded him too much of his own past, his own little sister he had left and his little brother who had died for him. When he looked back ayako was leaning over her brothers grave, and seemed to be talking, after a while she turned and beckoned him over telling him she was ready to leave, up close he could see were tear tracks had marked her face and the way she was sitting hunched up as if in pain, still she made no response to his attempt to talk with her, and insisted they should leave. Lelouch respected her silence and wordlessly let her on his back again, beginning the walk back to their camp.<p>

Halfway through the trip back, he broke the silence,

"I wasn't just cheering you up back there you know" he said.

"What do you mean"

"Even though we are in an impossible situation, I intend to keep my promise, I promised you a miracle , and I will deliver"

"You are actually serious aren't you," ayako blinked "very well, have it your way, its good to know that you think im worth the effort, and no matter the...the outcome, I appreciate it"

"You still wont believe me" he shook his head mock sadly.

"Shall we start training again when we get back?"

"Point taken"

* * *

><p><em>End of chapter 4...<em>

_What do you think? Like? dislike? Review and let me know._

_I have been giving a lot of thought into lulu and his zanpaktou, about its name and power._

_And here is a very important question that ties with it. Just how strong should lulu be? Should he have the brawn to go with the brains? If so he will be damn near invincible. Let me know what you guys think. Should he become a swordsman facing off against the enemy in mortal combat or be his old unathletic self. _


	6. Chapter 5: Rukongai Adventures, Cont

_Putting this up sooner than intended, but not much happens in this chapter, in it i'm mostly setting the stage for the future and better defining the setting._

_So on to chapter 5..._

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 5: Rukongai Adventures, Continued...<span>

It was days before they got back to the settlement. Lelouch had insisted on going, saying that its better than foraging for food in the forest, were they might easily run into another hollow. Ayako in return had insisted that he learn to conceal his reiatsu before they went anywere near a settlement, and he was forced to concede her point. It turned out to be a lot harder than simply raising your reiatsu, and she said that no matter how well you conceal it, a powerful shinigami would still be able to feel you if they get close enough, but at least now they wont be able to find them from miles away.

There was another thing that had to be done of course, for even with hidden spiritual power neither lelouch nor ayako were exactly free to wander rukongai, not as they were anyway, which brought them back to his original plan, a disguise. Lelouch had gone back to the site of the battle earlier and salvaged what he could. He was lucky, as with the exception of the food, most of the rest of the things in his pack were intact. Unfortunately the same could not be said of the dye bottles, they were glass and glass was fragile, still he had manged to recover a couple of the bottles, barely enough for the two of them, but the colors...they played rock paper scissors for the colors, and lelouch lost. Which was why he was determined to find another hat to cover his newly dyed head, the first had vanished during the battle, in the meantime he resorted to wrapping a piece of cloth around his head like an impromptu turban.

When they finally got to the settlement, with ayako riding on lelouch's back, they held a brief debate on were to go first. Lelouch was in favor of looking for a new hat and she was in favor of getting food, after a while lelouch conceded to her point that he already had a head covering and they went along to the center of the settlement were the food vendors were.

Lelouch maneuvered them to a place he knew that served as tea shop and restaurant combined were he was finally able to get ayako off his back and onto a bench, he was in no mood to eat today, and surprisingly enough he didn't feel fatigue and the corresponding hunger even though he had carried ayako all the way here with only brief stops. When he mentioned this to her, she said it was a good thing,

"You are beginning to use your spiritual power to boost your strength, and you are doing it unconsciously, good news on both counts" she was looking very different today in civilian clothing and with her hair dyed brown and tied into a bun at the back of her neck. The cloths were her own, the hair dye was courtesy of lelouch.

"Well then, if that is the case how do I do it consciously? And just how strong can it make you?"

"You do it the same way you raise your reiatsu, you are simply pouring your power into your own body instead the air around you, and as for strength," she smiled "your resiatsu is the limit"

lelouch grinned, "so I can make myself as strong as a giant" watchout suzaku, here I come.

"Not without lighting up like a fireworks festival, the more power you use, the more obvious you are, and please don't try experimenting here"

"Ill try to hold in my enthusiasm"

* * *

><p><em>Later...<em>

As they were waiting for the food, a familiar face walked in, the same old man against whom lelouch had played chess the day all this started, their eyes met and the old man came over to their table after lelouch made an inviting gesture with his hand.

"Well here is a face I didn't think to see again" he said with a smile, "You said you were planning to leave soon"

"I was planning to, matsuo-san wasn't it?" lelouch glanced at ayako briefly, "but things came up, and now I plan to stay for a while"

The old man glanced at ayako and gave a cheerful smile, no doubt assuming the worst, "Well im glad "things came up", I was hoping for another chance to play you, now it looks like I will have that chance"

"Play him?" ayako injected just as the food arrived, lelouch told her about their chess match as he invited old man matsuo to sit down at their table. After introducing ayako, the old man told them he often came here for a cup of tea and conversation, and indeed most of the patrons present seemed to know him.

Ayako was clearly surprised by the idea of him gambling over a chess match.

"I didn't think you were a gambler lelouch-san" she said with a hint of disapproval,

"Well chess isn't exactly a gamble, its a test of skill, the only gamble is who your opponents is going to be"

"And he didn't fail that gamble ayako-san, I never played a more challenging game"

"So it seems you have hidden skills you never told me about"

"Well I never was one to vaunt myself"

Old man matsuo then bought up the circumstances that made lelouch decide to stay in the district, lelouch and ayako exchanged a look and they both took turns telling the story they had come up with, how ayako was injured while traveling in the forest and how lelouch, by a stroke of good fortune had come upon her and helped her.

The news that ayako was injured came as a shock to the old man, and he expressed concern to her and wondered if she needed healing. Lelouch assured him that she was in no immediate danger and now she just needed time to recover. He got the message that she will be feeling the effects of her injury for the rest of her life and the look in his eyes saddened.

"So where are you two staying then" matsuo asked finally as he sipped his tea.

Lelouch and ayako exchanged glances.

"Well," lelouch began, "We are still looking for a place to stay, until then we make do"

"Well we cant have that" the old man surprised them both, "Ayako-san needs a safe place to recover, and you don't look to be made for hardship either lelouch-san, what do you say I find a place for you"

"Well" lelouch began again, "That's very kind of you matsuo-san, but we really cannot impose on you like that" finding lodgings inside the settlement would be unwise, as they couldn't keep concealing their reiatsu forever, and any random shinigami patrol passing through might pick them up.

"No no, you wont be imposing, in fact you would be doing a favor" matsuo assured them, "you see I have a good friend, an old lady my age who lives in the outskirts of the settlement, she lives alone and I worry about her, its not really safe out there, I have been looking for someone who could share the place with her, keep her company and help her around the house"

The outskirts? actually that wasn't so bad, they would have a roof above their heads and would be safely out of the way. Lelouch looked at ayako, she gave a nod of agreement, she was thinking the same thing.

"But why would an old lady live all the way out there? And what kind of work does she do?" lelouch asked, wanting more information. After all, this was too good to be true.

"Ah, as to that, she has always been a little stubborn, wouldn't move in to the settlement no matter how many times I ask," matsuo sighed, "and she has spiritual power, most folks are afraid of people like that, but you two look like sensible people"

Ah, so there was the catch, a person with spiritual power might also be able to feel the power in them. But, such a person might also be understanding. After all, they could just tell her that they are souls with spiritual power, there was no way they could know who they really were.

"As for what she does, she is a weaver, she makes baskets, hats that kind of thing and sells them to shopps around the settlement"

"Weaver? and she makes hats" lelouch was interested

"Will you give it a rest with the hat lelouch-san" ayako complained "i keep telling you the hat is not a priority"

"Hat? What hat?" the old man asked.

"He's desperately looking for a hat to keep the sunlight from damaging his pretty face" ayako explained.

"Wha, no i'm not, i mean i need a hat, but its not for my face"

"She is teasing you lelouch-san" matsuo smiled, "But yes she does make hats, very good ones I might add"

"Forgetting about the hats for the moment, you would trust us to live with her, an old lady who lives alone? You don't know much about us matsuo-san"

The old man grinned "True, but I do know that you met an injured young woman in the forest and took care of her instead of taking advantage of her, that says something about you, but of course its your choice"

Lelouch smiled in return, "Well give us a moment to talk it over matsuo-san"

The old man gave an affable nod and rose to go, promising to meet them here in the afternoon to escort them to the house if they were agreeable. Once he was gone lelouch and ayako held a long discussion on weather or not to accept the offer. In the end they decided to at least meet the old lady and see how she reacts to them, if she picked up on their abnormally high spiritual power, then they have to abandon the idea, but if she didn't, then they could consider staying.

* * *

><p>That afternoon they made the trip to the house of the old lady, who matsuo informed them was called granny utako by everyone, matsuo was leading the way while lelouch bought up the rear, with ayako riding on his back., the house was on the very edge of the settlement, well away from all other dwellings and almost in the surrounding forest, lelouch could see why matsuo was unhappy about an old woman living alone in a place like this.<p>

The house itself was unremarkable, just a small wooden shack that looked ready to fall down at a push. But it was well cared for and old lady herself was a small woman with gray hair going white who looked pretty hale for her age, She greeted them at the door and when matsuo told them the reason for their visit and the circumstances of ayakos injury, she insisted that they stay with her.

Lelouch could feel that the old woman had spiritual power, nothing to compare to ayako or him, but still enough to be felt. It was the only thing that was keeping him from deciding to stay with her, but that problem solved itself almost instantly. The old lady maneuvered mastsuo out of the way and spoke to lelouch and ayako in a quite tone, telling them that she could feel they had spiritual power, and she was not the least concerned, from this they was able to deduce that while she had enough power to be able to sense reiatsu, she didn't have enough to be able to tell the difference in strength. She wouldn't be able to tell that they were shinigami, not unless they actually do something that requires a lot of power.

That decided things as far as lelouch was concerned, and with ayakos approval he announced that they would like to stay if the old lady allowed it, said old lady was delighted, lelouch got the feeling that she had been very lonely by herself and was glad for the company, especially the company of those who had something in common with her. It was decided that they would spend the night at their new lodging and the next day lelouch would begin moving things from their camp to the house.

Old man matsuo wished them well and left himself, after making lelouch promise to come to the settlement for a chess game with him once a while as payment for helping them find the lodging, lelouch walked him to the door leaving ayako and the old lady to get to know each other.

"Well good bye and good luck lelouch-san, please take care of her for me" matsuo said when they were outside.

"I take it you two have known each other a long time" lelouch had read a lot by watching the two.

"We have, ever since my first day in soul society in fact, she is one of my best friends"

"Well don't worry matsuo-san, we will take good care of her" lelouch smiled.

"Thank you lelouch-san, i knew i was right about you, you are a good person," the old man smiled fondly at the young one "and about ayako-san, im sure she is grateful for what you are doing for her, she already sees you as a friend, give her time and she will see you as something more"

"...what?"

"Lelouch-san im telling you to go slow, i know young men are impatient about this sort of thing, but you didn't have to dye your hair green to impress her"

With that, the grinning old man walked away, leaving a spluttering lelouch behind.

* * *

><p><em>Elsewere...<em>

The forests of rukongai were silent. No birdsong could be heard, the sounds of the ever present insects was so faint as to be unheard, even the wind rustling through the branches had slacked off. It was as if it was enjoying the period of peace that had come after the battle that took place under its branches. That battle was over days ago, but the massive reiatsu unleashed by the combatants still lingered. All other traces though, were slowly being covered up by the forest. Footprints, broken branches...these things lasted less longer than reishi.

But, it was not a problem for the right kind of people. For the right kind of people, the faint traces of lingering reiatsu were enough to read the events that had taken place.

And the right kind of people were there.

A man was currently standing at the very site were the last combat between the hollow and the two shinigami had taken place. When he concentrated, he could pick up the lingering reiatsu. It clearly belonged to multiple shinigami and a hollow. Underlaying it all he felt the traces of concentrated reishi that accompanied a zanpaktou release or kido use.

The conclusion was obvious. A battle had been fought here.

But, there was something else. Some lingering reiatsu that couldn't be explained away. And he was not the kind of man to leave any detail without investigating.

As he crouched over the forest floor and attempted to read more details from the physical evidence, his attention was distracted by the surge of power that accompanied a shunpo. He let out a vexed sigh. Using such techniques so close to the site will mess up the already fading reiatsu. There had better be a reason for this.

He raised his head and repeated as much to the man who had just arrived.

"Oh there is a reason" the newcomer answered in a tone that immediately got his attention. "You will want to see this"

This man was one of several who had been sweeping the area in circles starting from the battle site. If they had come back so soon, it was something out of the ordinary.

The first man followed the newcomer to were a group of men, all dressed in identical black outfits, were standing over what looked like recently dug up shallow graves. Three of them.

The first man took in the scene and met the eyes of the others.

"Its them, I recognize them"

"So we found them" one of the others said.

"We found three of them, the fourth is still missing" the first man corrected. "And this one, his _shihakusho_ is white, this may explain the strange reiatsu we felt at the battle site"

He singled out two of the men.

"Send word to commander Omeda. We have confirmed the death of three of the deserters. The fourth is still unaccounted for, but we hope to apprehend her shortly." He cast another glance at the dead bodies. "Also, there is the strong possibility that a substitute shinigami has been created by the deserters and is in league with them"

The two were gone in a burst of shunpo.

* * *

><p><em>End chapter 5...<em>

_So there you have it. What do you guys think? Review and let me know. :-)_

_As I said above this chapter is mostly for setting the stage for the next chapters._

_In other news the great zanpaktou debate is still ongoing, mostly inside my head, i've pretty much decided to make his zanpaktou unique, but i'm not sure if it should reflect geass or some other thing about lulu and his life._

_Also the majority of you guys voted for a powerful lulu, at least captain class, and I intend to deliver. To keep things fair I plan to either a. give him lots of powerful enemies as RyuujinHaou suggested or b. give him a corresponding handicap, maybe like jushiro ukitake, powerful but sick._

_Lastly you guys were also much in favor of making lulu more like urahara, and I have decided to deliver that as well, I have already taken the first step in this chapter, by note(points up) giving him a hat, or rather putting him with an old lady who makes hats, so he will have a constant supply. :-) _

_See you guys next time._


	7. Chapter 6: An Unexpected Reunion

_Chapter 6 is up…..._

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><p><span>Chapter 6: Unexpected Reunion<span>

Lelouch was on the roof, working to repair a spot that leaked.

Ever since they took up residence with Granny Utako both Lelouch and Ayako had been doing their best to be useful around the house. Lelouch had taken over the cleaning and most of the cooking. Both being skills he was well versed in. He had also started to repair the house in small ways. Starting with a broken down chair first and when that proved to be a success, he had moved on to bigger projects. The leaky roof was his most ambitious plan yet. And despite Ayako predicting that he will end up falling off the roof and they would make a pair, he was making progress. Meanwhile Ayako, who was unable to help with the housework, had nonetheless proved to be quite skilled with her hands, and was helping Granny Utako with her weaving.

Lelouch had to admit that he was becoming content with this new turn of events. They were comfortable and they were in good company. Besides, Lelouch told himself, he deserved some peace and quiet.

"Hey Lelouch-san" Lelouch jumped and almost lost his footing on the slanting roof. He looked down in irritation to see Ayako on the ground, right next to the ladder he had used to climb up.

Lelouch sighed. That was another thing that had changed. Ayako no longer needed him to give her piggy back rides. One time when Old man Matsuo had come to visit, he had suggested getting a pair of crutches for her. And had even directed Lelouch to were he could have a pair made. As a result Ayako was able to move freely around the house and garden. She obviously reveled in her newfound mobility. And it was obvious that had done wonders to improve her mental state. The downside was that she was now able to turn up when least expected and bother him. Frequently when he was working. He got the feeling she enjoyed it too.

"Careful Lelouch-san, you almost fell off" She grinned. "You don't want to have to order another pair of these" She waves one of her crutches.

"You did that on purpose" He growled. "Is there a reason you came here or are you just enjoying yourself?"

"Why Lelouch-san how can you think such things" She shook her head mock sadly. "I simply enjoy your company. And you look so handsome with that hat"

Lelouch lifted his had to the hat reflexively. It had been a gift from Granny Utako, a brand new pointy hat to replace the one he lost. And Ayako never stopped giving him grief over it.

"Anyway come down from there. Its almost time for the evening meal and you need to make the trip to the settlement"

"Ah yes" He started climbing down from the roof.

Today he had promised Granny Utako that he would take her weaving to the settlement and drop them off at the shops she supplied. Apparently this was something she did once every couple of weeks. Usually she had gone herself with some help from friends for the heavy lifting. But this time Lelouch had volunteered.

"You had forgotten hadn't you? I knew you would"

"I was counting on you to remind me" Lelouch returned smugly as his feet hit the ground. In truth he had been distracted by his work. So distracted he hadn't felt her approach.

"Hump" She huffed and gestured to the house, urging him to go ahead.

As they walked to the house, with Lelouch slowing his pace so Ayako could keep up, he thought that their relationship had improved greatly in a very short time. At first Ayako had been almost hostile, accepting his help very reluctantly. It had been a mix of grief, shock and natural wariness. However the combination of time ,companionship and Granny Utako's influence had made her warm to him. Now he liked to think of them as friends. Almost as if they were students back at Ashford. Even though she had told him that she was decades older than him. Still looking back on his past life he couldn't ever remember making a friend this fast. Except maybe Suzaku. He grinned. Death does change people.

As they came up on the front door he felt the small shift of spiritual power inside the house that signaled its owners movement. "Hello Granny Utako" He greeted as the old lady appeared at the door.

"Lelouch-kun, i see Ayako-kun got you down from the roof" the old lady said as she ushered them inside. "Lunch is ready. Lets see if my cooking can compare to yours Lelouch-kun"

"I'm sure it leaves him in the dust Granny" That was Ayako.

Lelouch shook his head, "I'll be sure to remember that the next time you want me to make youOyakodon Ayako-san"

* * *

><p><em>Later...<em>

As they were laying out the meal Granny Utako told them that they might be having some visitors later. This came as a surprise to Lelouch. In all the time they had stayed with her, which was admittedly a very short time, the only visitor had been Old man Matsuo. He had begun to think of their host as a true loner.

"I told you I had help moving my things shops didn't i" Granny explained. "Some young ones from the settlement come over every once in a while and give me a hand. This time they will show you around the shops"

"Yes, I do need to know were to go. I had assumed you would give me directions" Lelouch replied. "But its nice that you have such helpful friends Granny, I'm looking forwards to meeting them"

"Yes they are nice" Granny Utako smiled fondly. "They have always helped me whenever I asked. And wanted nothing in return other than a hot meal"

"A meal? So they are..."

"Yes they are spiritually powerful like we are. Its why I've always had a soft spot for them" Her smile turned a little sad. "That and because most folk at the settlement shun them"

"This district is definitely one of the more unfriendly places for the spiritually aware" Ayako interjected. She met his yes. "Its even worse for Shinigami. People are either actively hostile or are terrified of them"

Lelouch understood her meaning. It was one of the reasons her group of deserters had chosen to hide in this district. Anyone searching for them would have had a hard time with the civilians so uncooperative.

"True, they only send the obligatory patrol now and then, those Shinigami. And unless there is a large hollow attack we are pretty much left alone" Granny Utako glanced at the open front door. "They are running late today, i wonder if something kept them from coming"

"I'm sure they will turn up granny. Lets just wait for them" Ayako assured the old lady.

Lelouch focused his mind. While he could easily feel Ayako's spiritual power over a long distance, he had trouble feeling a normal spiritually powerful soul like Granny Utako. Not unless they were very close. Still he cast his awareness outwards, trying to feel the presence of anyone in close proximity to the little house. And he did feel someone, or rather, several someones. There were three of them and, he visualized a map of the surrounding area, yes they were on the road to the house.

"Yes I'm sure they are coming" Lelouch said getting up. Ayako raised an eyebrow at him. "In fact let me set the table for them Granny. And I'll make some tea. They must be tired from the walk. How many of them were there again?"

As he was in the little kitchen getting the tea ready he felt the newcomers coming up to the front of the house and Granny Utako moving to meet them. He heard their voices as they came in and were introduced to Ayako. Judging by the voices they were children. And one of the voices sounded a bit familiar. But that was impossible, he wasn't on familiar terms with anyone from the settlement other than one old man. And he certainly hadn't spoken to any children...except. His head snapped up. Children with spiritual power. Three of them. It couldn't be.

He picked up the tea set and walked carefully up to the kitchen door. Granny Utako lived in a simple three room house. Aside from the kitchen there was just the bedroom and a main room that served as both dining room and living room. Standing just inside the kitchen door he could clearly hear what was being said in the next room. And if he leaned in a bit, he could catch a glimpse of what was happening.

That settled it. It was definitely them. He could catch a glimpse of a head of red hair and clearly hear the boys voice. The same brats who pick pocketed him and started him down the road to all this mess. He didn't know if he should strangle the lot of them or thank them. Still, he grinned, he was going to enjoy this little reunion.

Lelouch carefully stepped into the room, teapot leading. The newcomers were all sitting with their backs to the kitchen door, and so never saw him enter.

"Tea is ready" He announced cheerfully.

"Ah Lelouch-kun come in come in let me introduce you" Granny Utako waved cheerfully.

The children turned almost as one to face him. Of course it took a moment for them to recognize him.

The look on their faces was priceless.

* * *

><p>It took a while to clam down everyone and get them seated again. The redheaded boy had jumped up reflexively as if to run for it, while the other two had started back and upset the table. Granny Utako had been flabbergasted by the way everyone was acting. And Ayako had clearly enjoyed the show. After everyone had calmed down somewhat, Lelouch had watched with amusement as the children had tried to explain away their behavior. From their efforts Lelouch gathered that Granny Utako had no idea of what they did to support themselves in the settlement. And they were hardly about to admit that one of their victims was here in front of them. After he had watched them squirm for a while Lelouch interjected, saying that they had run into each other at the settlement and I must be a shock to see him again like this. That explanation was accepted by everyone, with the children bcking him up vigorously. And Lelouch sending them a look that said they would talk later.<p>

Then finally Granny Utako got to make the introductions. The redhead was called Niito and the leader of their little group. The other two were Saita and Sakura, brother and sister, Saita an year older then his sister. Lelouch and Ayako were presented as guests who will be staying with Granny from now on. So they will be seeing a lot of them. There was notably little cheer about the prospect from the children.

All told it was a subdued group that left the house and headed for the settlement. With the red haired Niito in the lead, Lelouch coming next and the other two behind him. The children were still nervous around Lelouch. As if they expected him to bring up the robbery now that Granny Utako was not here. Lelouch however decided he had had enough fun for now.

"So" He broke the silence, drawing their attention. "About the other day"

"We are sorry about that Lelouch-san" The girl, Sakura, said timidly. "But you see, we were hungry"

"I know" Lelouch cut her off. "And like i said before. I understand hunger" He smiled, "And I'm not entirely innocent of robbery in need myself"

The children were looking at him a bit less warily now, and with more curiosity. As if trying to imagine him pickpocketing people in the street.

"But i have to ask you this. Why do you turn to robbery when you can work for Granny Utako. Its a lot safer than getting caught and being beaten half to death"

"Granny isn't exactly rich Lelouch-san. She only has enough to spare on the days she sells her stuff" Niito explained. "We have to find our own food at other times"

"And she does not know about your little sideline. Am i correct?" The children exchanged glances. "I thought so. Well i wont be telling her" Lelouch assured them. "In exchange for a promise"

They exchanged another glance. "What promise?"

"Now that we will be staying with Granny there will be enough food to go around. Ayako-san eats a lot anyway" Indeed most of the food at the house had come from his gambling proceeds ever since they had moved in. "I want a promise that there will be no more robbery. If you are hungry, drop in at the house and we will feed you"

The children looked at him round eyed.

"Well?" Lelouch demanded.

"We promise Lelouch-san" The promise came simultaneously from three mouths. "No more robbery"

"Or granny will be hearing about this" Lelouch finished. It got instant results, all three of them nodded vigorously.

"Now that leaves just one more thing and we can put this behind us" Lelouch continued. "Which of you was responsible for hitting me with that...dirt"

"It was him...her" The two sentences overlapped as the siblings pointed at each other. Lelouch grinned.

"Well i was going to say good aim, but under the circumstances i will overlook that one" The kids looked shocked as he continued smiling. "Well that takes care of that. We will say no more of this anymore"

"Hai Lelouch-san" The three chorused.

The rest of the trip went much more smoothly after that. With Lelouch and the three children even managing to strike up a lively conversation along the way. When they got to the settlement, they made the rounds at the various shops, Niito directing. And Lelouch dropped off the merchandise and pocketed the payment. Afterwards Lelouch insisted on treating them to a visit to a food stand. One that sold sweets to be precise. Calling it a peacemaking gift.

It was afternoon when they finally parted ways at the settlement outskirts. With Lelouch promising to take their good wishes back to Granny and Ayako.

Lelouch shook his head in bemusement as he walked back. First he had made a promise to help the sister of the man who tried to kill him. And now he had bought sweets as a peacemaking gift for the brats who had robbed him. He was getting soft. But then, if it wasn't for the brats he wouldn't have gained Shinigami powers. The same with Ayako. He had her brother to thank for his power. It was strange how obligations worked. And even stranger how he got tangled up in them. Even in life he had waged war against the land of his birth, partly for the benefit of a people who had taken in him and his sister after their exile. It looked as if things were going to be the same for him even in the afterlife.

* * *

><p>The three children, after they left Lelouch, were walking along the outskirts of the settlement. There was a small hill a short distance from the outskirts. And this was were they were headed. It was their private little place. Were they could safely play and mess around without any interference from the adult population. And today's windfall deserved a celebration.<p>

One of the main topics under discussion was the newcomers who had taken up residence with Granny Utako.

"I'm telling you there is something strange about those two" The youngest of them, Sakura, insisted.

"Of course they are strange, the well Lelouch-san at any rate. I mean the guy bought us sweets for robbing him" Her brother grinned.

"Actually is was a gift for our help. And for making that promise" Niito reminded them.

"That's not it!" Sakura snapped. "There is something very strange about them. We saw Lelouch-san the other day and he was alone. Then suddenly he moves in with Granny and Ayako-san is with him" She shook her head "When did he even meet her? How did they get to know Granny? Its not as if she gets around the place much"

"He probably left Ayako-san at Granny's that day. And someone could have introduced them to Granny stupid" Nitto grinned. "Girls, always jumping to conclusions"

"I'm not jumping to conclusions" she stomped her foot. "I'm just saying its strange" She shivered slightly "Besides, i could feel, _something_, about them. Something strange"

Her brother flicked her nose. Causing her to yelp. "Calm down you. Lelouch-san let us off for robbing him and bought us sweets. Ayako-san was the nicest lady i ever met here. Not counting Granny" He smiled at her. "I'm sure they are good people"

"I guess" Sakura conceded grudgingly. "But still..."

"They are strange. You said that already" Niito finished for her. "Come on lets go" He started for the hill at a run, the others following.

None of them noticed the shadow tailing them from among the trees.

* * *

><p>Predictably it was Sakura who noticed that something was wrong. She suddenly pulled up short and got the others attention.<p>

"Guys we should go back. Something is not okay here" She said, glancing around nervously.

"Sakura what is with you today. You are going on and on about nothing" Saita folded his arms across his chest. "There is nothing wrong here"

"Please guys. Please just this once, lets go back" She pleaded. "Just this once. Something is wrong"

"All all right" Her brother gave in. "But only because you say so"

"Okay then, wasted trip. Back we go" Niito turned to head back the way they came.

"I wouldn't call it a wasted trip little children"

It took them a moment to realize some else had spoken. They turned to look in the direction the voice had come from.

Sakura screamed. The other two were paralyzed, unable to even utter a squeak.

A Hollow towered over them. Twice as tall as a man. Its mask a leering monstrosity. It had approached them without any sound or sign. And was close enough they were almost in its shadow.

"Now now little children. There is no need to be frightened" The monster cackled. "I promise this will be over quickly"

Niito snapped out of his daze. "Run!" He screamed. Giving the other two a push and finally jolting them to action.

That broke the spell they had been under and all three of them turned tail and ran in the direction of the settlement. All three of them had been raised in the streets of Rukongai. And there was nothing wrong with there survival instincts. Speed and quick thinking was the only thing they had going for them. And this was the time they would need those skills the most.

Unfortunately the Hollow was not a normal adversary. Its speed outstripped theirs by huge margin. Before they knew what was happening it was ahead of them. Blocking the way to the settlement.

The children pulled up just in time and backed away from the monster.

"Well well, looks like you will be making this more interesting little children" The Hollow mocked. "Shall we play a game? I will let you run. I will even give you a head start" It leaned over the children. Casting its huge shadow over them. "Then i start chasing you. If you mange to reach the houses before i get you, you will get to live" It laughed, a sickening sound that rang among the trees. "What do you think. A nice game is it not?"

Sakura whimpered. Her brother wrapped his arms around her. Urging her to move.

"You are one sick bastard aren't you" A voice said from behind them.

The Hollow turned to see a man standing behind it. A man wearing a conical hat that obscured most of his face and dressed in a black kosode and hakama under a pale blue sleeveless haori that fell down to his knees.

"Who the hell are you?" The Hollow snarled. "Are you so eager to be food?"

"You tell me" The stranger mocked. "Are you eager to be made into dog food?"

"Ha" The Hollow laughed. "You? Make me into dog food? Come here and try"

"Gladly" The man replied as he reached behind his back and drew out a Katana. He glanced at the children. "You lot. Get out of here"

* * *

><p>"Lelouch-san!"<p>

"Get out of here i said!" Lelouch snarled as he advanced on the Hollow, blade held ready. "Run to Granny's" Ayako was there. And she would be able to provide them with some protection.

"Hai Lelouch-san" Niito said and began to drag the others away. Plainly he could see what Lelouch intended.

"What? Wait, no Lelouch-san" The other two began struggling.

"You fools, what do you plan to do against the hollow?" Lelouch asked mockingly. "Fight it? Go, i will hold it off. And when you are safe away, i will join you"

At that the other two came to their senses and started moving . Or rather, Saita came to his senses first and between them he and Niito dragged Sakura away. Finally she herself gave in to the others and started running on her own. "Don't you die you big idiot" Sakura yelled in parting as they vanished among the trees.

"How touching" The Hollow mocked. It had stood silent during the entire exchange. "Sacrificing yourself to buy them time. But they will not get away. I can follow a scent better than any dog or wolf. I will track them were ever they go. Just as soon as I'm done with you i will go after them"

"I see" Lelouch grinned. "Then i just have to kill you here and now"

"You fool. Do you think that little sword can do anything to me" The Hollow shook its head mock sadly. "You really are a fool. I hope you are a tasty fool however"

Lelouch gripped the Katana in both hands and took a stance, feet planted wide apart and blade held in front of him.

"Come here and find out beast" He mocked. "And this is not just a sword. This is a Zanpaktou"

Lelouch let his Reiatsu rise, flooding the area with his power.

"Your move"

* * *

><p><em>And there you have it. What do you guys think? Review and let me know.<em>

_In the next chapter Lelouch gets to flex his new Shinigami muscles for the first time. And I will be using all the input you guys gave about his abilities. Trying to portray Lelouch actually fighting is hard. I hope I can make it interesting and stay true to his character._

_Also I was reminded that I never actually described how Lelouch looks now, his cloths etc. I covered that this chapter as well._

_ps: Also gave him a pre ass-kicking one liner there at the end. Does that sound like Lulu? :-)  
><em>


	8. Chapter 7: Against The Hollow

_Chapter 7 is up, featuring the trilling battle between Lelouch and the Hollow._

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 7: Against The Hollow<span>

Lelouch faced the Hollow, Zanpaktou held ready in front of him.

This Hollow was very different from the one he faced before. He had been told by Ayako, his source of Shinigami lore, that each Hollow was different from the next. Their appearance, their powers, and even their mentality is all a reflection of their spirit, or rather, their heart. This one was thin, stick figure thin, with royal purple skin and a crest like that of a rooster starting on its head and running down its back. The Hollow Hole was on the left side of its chest were its heart would have been. Its mask resembled a birds skull, with a long beak that jutted out almost a foot from its face. But this beak had the teeth of a carnivore, set in a permanent grin. Its hands were unusually large even for its large body, and each had three fingers that were very long and skeletal, and seemed to have far too many joints. However despite all this, it was much more humanoid than the other hollow he had encountered.

Also unlike the Scorpion Hollow, that had flooded the entire forest with its Reiatsu, he could tell that this one was weaker. Weak enough for him to handle? Well he would soon find out.

Suddenly the Hollow lifted its hands and held them out at Lelouch, fingers splayed and pointed at him. The fingers lengthened like rubber and shot towards Lelouch, who barely had time to bring his Zanpaktou up to block.

Fingers and blade collided with a sound that rang among the surrounding trees. Lelouch was stunned bye the massive impact of the blow and he was thrown backwards like a rag doll. Coming to a crashing halt against a tree trunk.

He had instinctively pushed Reishi into the air around him, which now acted as a cushion for him and lessened the damage of the impact. Even so it felt like every bone in his body was cracked. A cursing Lelouch forced himself to jump out of the way as the Hollow shot its fingers in another attack, which barely missed him and gored a large chunk out of the tree.

He had barely manged to get on his feet again when the next attack came and Lelouch manged to get his Zanpaktou up to meet it by sheer instinct. The impact flung him away like the fist one, this time causing Lelouch to bounce like a football along the rough ground. The followup attack came an instant later, and Lelouch was forced to scramble out of the way on his hands and knees in a most undignified manner as the Hollow cackled gleefully.

Lelouch scrunched his face up at the pain, he was sure that something had broken. And the dammed Hollow was _laughing_. His grimace of pain became one of rage as he pulled himself to his feet again, once more bringing his blade up. Though his arms hurt so much he could barely lift them and the blade wobbled in time to his shaking hands.

The Hollow advanced leisurely on the battered Lelouch, holding its arms out and flexing its fingers. "I'm disappointed, if truth be told" It sneered. "You have a Zanpaktou, and an impressive amount of Reisatsu, both of which mean that you must be a Shinigami. If this is all the fight you have in you then you are an insult to your kind"

Lelouch started to shake his head, but the attempt made pain spike through his skull. He dearly hoped that his skull wasn't cracked. "Don't be so cocky, if you have fought against Shinigami before you know they are not to be underestimated. Besides, underestimating any enemy no matter how insignificant, can easily get you killed"

"I believe the evidence of my eyes Shinigami" The Hollow returned arrogantly. "They tell me that you are a weakling worm not even worth a fight"

"There is no use talking to you is there?" Lelouch replied. "I told you to make your move, and you did. You let me take the measure of your strength, your speed and most importantly your means of attacking and defending. Though I admit, I wasn't expecting you to do this much damage this fast, your strength is impressive"

"Oh?" The Hollow sneered. "So now you know all that, you are ready to fight? You half dead excuse for a Shinigami"

"Exactly" Lelouch agreed calmly. "Its my move"

"Fool" Snarled the Hollow, bringing its hands up for another attack. "Die!"

Lelouch grinned. Exactly as predicted.

"Bakudo #1 Sai"

* * *

><p><em>Flashback...<em>

"Hado #1 Sho"

The rock shattered to pieces. Ayako lowered her pointing finger and looked at Lelouch.

"This is a simple Hado spell, thought to academy students as a introduction to Kido. This is were we will start"

They were in a small forest clearing a good way away from the house. Having arrived here early in the morning, with Lelouch carrying Ayako as usual. Lelouch had been eager to begin learning about his newfound power. Something Ayako readily encouraged. However there were some difficulties with training him properly as she had explained.

First off he learned that there were four main forms of combat the Shinigami specialized in. These were Zanjetsu or the way of the sword, Kido or the demon arts, Hoho or the speed arts and finally Hakuda or unarmed combat. Unfortunately Ayako was in no condition to teach him most of these as it would involve her moving around and sparring with him. So they had settled on the only one left, Kido, which Lelouch privately thought of as magic.

She explained that when using Kido, the practitioner concentrates Spiritual Power and shapes it with a combination of words, gestures and mental focus. It was, she said, part art, part science and part instinct.

"The majority of the Kido are broken down into two branches" She lectured. "Hado, the destructive arts and Bakudo the binding arts. Each Kido is further ranked from 1 to 99, depending on the difficulty and power needed to use"

"So you must be at a certain level of power to use the high level stuff? There is more than skill involved?" Lelouch inquired.

"Yes, the high level spells demand a massive amount of power to even begin casting them. But" She waved a finger at him. "The amount of power put into a spell depends more on the individual. Even the level one Hado I did just now would be much more devastating if done by a Captain"

"I see, a combination of skill power and mental focus" Lelouch looked thoughtful. "I think I can mange, so long as my power is adequate"

"You have more than enough power Lelouch-san" Ayako assured him. "And you are pretty good at handling your Reiatsu. Thats a very good sign for a Kido user. I have a hunch that you might even be able to work Kido without the incantation faster than most"

"Kido without the incantation?"

"Yes"

She explained that because of the long incantations, precise gestures and concentration needed to cast most Kido, its hard to use them in combat. But it was possible to forgo the incantation and cast the Kido directly. As the incantation and the gestures were just there to help your mental focus. But this convenience came often at a cost, it affected how much power the spell had. So you had to be very skilled to use a Kido without the incantation and still have it at enough power to be effective.

"Well thats enough theory Lelouch-san, lets begin"

"Right" Lelouch grinned.

* * *

><p><em>Present time...<em>

The Hollow found its arms locked behind it as the binding Kido took effect. The sudden loss of balance causing it to fall to its knees and almost faceplant on the ground. It struggled to keep form falling on its face and barely manged to keep its balance as it lifted its head and snarled at him.

"I do thank you for presenting your arms so readily for the Kido" Lelouch taunted. "Normally its so hard to aim these things"

"You fool! How long do you think something this weak can hold me?"

"Long enough" Lelouch replied and raised his hand, index finger pointing at the Hollow. The creature emitted a wordless cry as it realized what was about to happen.

"Hado #4 Byakurai"

A swirling ball of spiritual energy gathered at his fingertip and discharged in the form a bolt of pale blue lightning. The blast stuck the Hollows mask in an explosion of light and sparks that flung it backwards and threw it on its back. The howl of pain and rage the creature gave rang among the trees.

"Hmmm" Lelouch said as he advanced on the Hollow that was now trashing madly on the ground, arms still locked, face pressed against the ground. "I hoped to get you with that one. I guess I didn't put enough power behind the Kido. But that's simple enough to fix"

He raised his hand again. "Goodbye beast"

And the Hollow raised its head up from the ground and looked at him.

Lelouch was frozen in shock. The prepared Kido forgotten. Even the pain in his body momentarily forgotten at the sight of the Hollows face.

"Cl...Clovis" Lelouch whispered.

* * *

><p>The Hado spell had smashed the Hollows mask into fragments and had even caved in part of its face. But that face was still recognizable. Clovis la Britannia, the former third prince of the Holy Britannian Empire and Ex-Viceroy of Area Eleven, whom he had killed with his own hands at Shinjuku Gheto. And as the Hollow Clovis met his eyes, Lelouch saw recondition there.<p>

"Le...Lelouch" The Hollow rasped out.

Lelouch moved his mouth, but no sound came out. Even if he had manged to speak, he had no idea what he may have said. What could he say to a half brother he had executed? In the end it was Clovis who broke the silence.

"Lelouch..." He or it? rasped out. "Look at me"

"What?" That snapped Lelouch out of his shock.

"Look at me" The Hollow Clovis repeated. "I am a monster. I have become a monster" It was almost sobbing now. "Look at what you have done Lelouch. Look at me!"

"What?" Lelouch repeated. Even though he had heard perfectly. He could certainly understand that Clovis would be a little...resentful. But it hadn't been entirely his fault that he came to this end. He had only killed him. But turning him into a Hollow? That had been none of his doing.

The Hollow Clovis was on his feet now. He hadn't seen him move. "I was going to be immortal" It yelled. "And you made me into this!"

Ah, well that answered one question. He had learned that one way to become a Hollow was having a heart clouded with despair. And for Clovis, having his shot at eternity taken away so rudely, and having his pretty face reduced to this was no doubt a very, very unpleasant turn of events. Lelouch remembered the piles of dead Japanese in Shinjuku, dead because Clovis wanted to preserve his image. Lelouch grinned. Maybe there is some justice left in the world after all.

"Come now Clovis" Lelouch returned calmly as he regained his composure. While finding Clovis again had been shocking. In the end his own little monologue had reminded Lelouch that this was still, Clovis."They say a Hollows appearance is a reflection of its heart. So you only have your self to blame for how you look"

"You bastard" Hollow Clovis screamed. "I had forgotten everything. I had forgotten what had happened" That caught Lelouch off guard again. "But you broke my mask. I remembered, I remembered everything you bastard. Even after death you must plague me"

"That's my line" Lelouch snarled back. "You paid with death for the crimes you committed in Shinjuku. And you have learned nothing from that death"

Lelouch lifted his index finger as a ball of swirling blue Reishi, much larger than before, began to form. "Well Clovis, if you don't like this afterlife then I can send you to the next one" He smirked. "It's nothing I haven't done before after all"

The Hollow Clovis bellowed like a wounded bull and strained against the binding Kido. It shattered in an explosion of Reishi and sound and light. Clovis bought his arms forward and in the same motion lunged at Lelouch, launching his fingers at him as he did so.

"Hado #4 Byakurai"

This time the blue lightning stuck Clovis on the chest right under his Hollow hole, punching strait through and leaving a gaping bleeding hole were it stuck. It looked as if he had two Hollow holes one under the other.

Clovis stopped in his tracks and dropped to his knees bonelessly before falling forwards on his hands. His half extended fingers trailed limply on the ground like dead snakes. Remarkably he was still alive. Even bleeding from a massive wound in his chest, even after eating two Hado spells, he was still alive. Lelouch assumed this was due to one of two reasons. Either he still hadn't put enough power behind the spell or he neglected to hit were it counts. The mask, or the face in this case.

"I suppose the stories are true, Hollows are tough bastards" Lelouch muttered as he impassively watched his half brother who was on his hands and knees in front of him.

"Clovis, i'm sorry for this" Lelouch advanced on the prone form. This time he would make sure to hit the head. And, he gathered up his power, he would put everything into the spell.

That was when Clovis surprised him. Driven by rage, or sheer instinct to survive, he dug his fingers into the ground and flung a wall of dirt up at Lelouch.

Lelouch panicked and released the Hado spell without aiming properly.

Not surprisingly, it missed and hit the ground in front of Clovis, the flash of light and noise adding to the confusion and disrupting vision.

Clovis scrambled to his feet and ran, one hand clutching his wound. Even wounded from two Hado spells he had an impressive turn of speed, and by the time Lelouch had recovered had vanished among the trees. Lelouch could still feel his Reiatsu, but it was getting fainter and fainter. A moment later that too was gone.

* * *

><p>Lelouch stood staring after Clovis for a long time, unsure of himself for once. True he had mocked Clovis just now. And he had been prepared to kill Clovis a second time. But, even after the massacre in Shinjuku, had he wished this fate on him? If anything he himself deserved a worse fate for everything he had done, far worse than the blood Clovis had on his hands. And yet here he was, a whole soul, a Shinigami, while Clovis was a Hollow. Lelouch shook his head.<p>

"Clovis" He whispered. "You are still a fool"

With a tired sigh Lelouch sheathed his Zanpaktou and limped over to retrieve his hat. It had been flung clear when he had slammed against the tree and was dusted up but still serviceable. He cleaned the dirt off it as best he could before placing it on his head before moving on.

It took him a while to get his bearings, he had simply run here using the Hollows Reiatsu as a beacon when he had felt it go after the kids. Though it had been sheer luck he had been able to pick up the Hollow targeting them before the kids went beyond his range. Those three brats had been born lucky, first getting away with robbery and now this. And speaking of brats...

He turned from his path and walked over to a clump of bushes that stood a good ways from the battle.

"I thought I told you to go to Granny's" He said as he used the sheathed Zanpaktou to move the bushes aside. "If it had gotten past me the three of you would have been easy pickings"

Huddled underneath were the three children. Staring at him with expressions that went from awe to disbelief to shock. Lelouch winced. Even though they had been a good distance from the fight, and there was a chance they didn't hear the exchange between him and Clovis, there was no mistaking a man shooting lightning from his fingers. Well best to get it over quickly.

"Come on, lets go" He extended his hand to them.

"Le...Lelouch-san you...you are" Niito was struggling with it.

"Yes, i'm a Shinigami. I will explain on the way, come on" He gestured again. Remaining at the site of a fight, especially this close to the settlement, was not a good idea. Someone had surely heard Clovis screaming and they might get it into their heads to come and investigate.

It took a while to get the kids on their feet, still staring at him as if he had grown a pair of horns. And Lelouch hustled them in the direction of the house, talking to them as they walked. Not so long ago, he would have been able to use geass to ensure that they would remain silent. Now he had to rely on simple words to persuade them. But then Lelouch always thought of himself as having a gift with words.

Lelouch was tired from the fight, still shocked by meeting Clovis again and trying to find the proper words to explain his situation to the kids. Otherwise he might have noticed the figures that had been watching him ever since the fight ended. But then even if had been alert, he might not have noticed. These were experts at stealth, trained for years to conceal their spiritual signature.

* * *

><p><em>Later...<em>

In the eternal night of the deserts of Hueco Mundo, the realm of the Hollows, the Hollow who in life had been called Clovis la Britannia wailed in pain and anguish. He had taken refuge in a giant rock outcropping that jutted out from the sands and formed natural caves. After his fight with Lelouch he had run blindly, with no thought other than getting as far away as he could from his brother. It was much later that he had finally recovered his wits enough to escape into Hueco Mundo.

Now he struggled in wain and clawed at his face as his shattered mask grew back.

He knew that the mask had made him forget himself and do terrible things. He knew that the shattering of the mask had made him remember who he had been in life. Now it was coming back, and he was afraid that he would forget himself again. Become an animal again.

"Lelouch..." He wailed, clawing at the white substance creeping up his face. "Lelouch!"

He hated his brother. He hated him. He had brought it all back. Made him see what a monster he had become. In the end he hadn't even killed him. Only left him to live on as a monster.

He remembered Lelouch standing over him as he tasted dirt, hand raised to shoot lightning. He remembered Lelouch grinning as he bought the gun to his forhead. Lelouch hadn't suffered, he wasn't a monster. He had killed him in cold blood, and was rewarded by being made a Shinigami. Sent to kill him a second time. He _hated_ his brother.

"Lelouch" Clovis howled at the night sky as the mask covered his face once more. The flowing bone white substance solidifying almost at once.

Clovis fell to the ground, pawing at the sand and panting.

He lay like that for what seemed like hours. He had no idea how much time had passed before he lifted his newly masked face and clutched one hand to his wound, slowing pulling himself to his knees.

"Lelouch" He growled.

He remembered, he still remembered everything. The mask returning hadn't robbed him of his reason. He could still see Lelouch with his damnable smug smile. Still see the gun coming for his face.

"Lelouch" Clovis snarled. "I swear, this is not over. I will get strong Lelouch, i will get strong and i will make you suffer"

* * *

><p><em>End of chapter 7.<em>

Beginning the OC encyclopedia

"Good evening dear Fanfic readers, today we will be beginning the OC encyclopedia, were we will introduce ocs, discuss story elements and accept donations of pizza. I will be your host C.C" C.C introduced herself decked out in a Shinigami uniform with a Zanpaktou at her hip.

The camera panned to reveal C.C standing in front of a giant projector screen that now flared to life.

"The first subject we have today is" An image of Ayako popped up on the screen.

"Oi, i'm not a bloody subject" Ayako shouted from behind the projecter.

"Shhhhh, we are recording dammit" that was Lelouch, he was operating the camera. He gestured for C.C to continue.

"As i was saying. Kiyamizu Ayako, formerly of the 12th division, she deserted the Gotei with her brother and two companions. During the desertion her legs were crushed due to unrevealed circumstances and never fully healed. Her brother and his companions were killed um, fighting a Hollow, and in his last moments said brother asked Lelouch to stand in for him" C.C gestured again and a picture of Lelouch appeared next to ayako. "Lelouch, with his sister complex was eager to accept, and so she will be serving as major plot element, mostly creating conflict for Lelouch"

"I do not have a sister complex!" Lelouch snarled.

"Your making the camera wobble"

"Shut it you. You are here to create conflict, not offer opinions. Ow!" there was a loud whack! As Ayako hit Lelouch on the head with one of her crutches.

They had to wait while Lelouch got up and setup the camera again.

"Ayako is a girl who looks a year or so younger than Lelouch, but is actually old enough to be his mother. She is also the last on the list if Lelouch is going to be paired with anybody"

"Oi!"

"What!"

Both the projector and the camera jumped in union.

"We really should get a proper filming crew" Ayako growled as she clicked the slides back into order.

"We can't afford it. We spent most of the budget on pizza. And im dead so i cant use my credit card anymore" Lelouch finally got the tripod back up.

"Well maybe Suzaku can do it?"

"I have to keep the peace dammit. Leave me alone" Suzaku yelled from outside the studio.

"Well we will think of something, go on C.C"

"She used to be a researcher at the 12th and combat is not her strong suit. But she understands Shinigami lore better than most, and she is very gifted with Kido. Also she wasn't a seated officer and doesn't have a Shikai"

"Thats it" Lelouch clicked the stop button. "Time for the editing"

"What editing?" C.C asked as she stepped away from the projector. "This went live to the site"

"What!" Lelouch dropped the camera, on his foot.

C.C drew her Zanpaktou.

"Slice, Pepperoni"

The lights went dark.

* * *

><p><em>And thats it for this chapter.<br>_

_Yes the Hollow is Clovis, and yes i made him look like a rooster. :-)_

_I hope was able to present of Lelouch fighting in a way that would fit his character and abilities. Let me know if it fit, or if you think i should make improvements to his fighting style._

_Also note that He now has his first antagonist aka: mini boss. I chose a Hollow, and not some random one, to give Lelouch a chance to see the relationship between Shinigami and Hollow as something more than just pest control._

_The next update will be a bit late as i need to gird my loins and take some exams. As soon as i'm done, assuming i'm not a nervous wreck by then, ill start updating again._

_And what do you guys think about the OC encyclopedia? Good idea or bad idea? Taken of course from the bleach equivalent. Like the witch said i plan to use it discuss OCs, story elements and such. It wont be there every chapter, only once in a while._

_ps: removed and reinstated the oc encyclopedia under pressure from my roommate and a review from observer1 :-)  
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